JxJ
A Compassionate Spy with Post-Screening Q&A
Adults (18+), Young Professionals (20-39), Older Adults (65+)Date : Thursday, Aug 24
Time :
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Location : Cafritz Hall
“A First-Rate Portrait” – The Guardian
Advance Screening – Limited Run
Dir. Steve James | 101 min
Documentary United States 2023
English
The youngest physicist on the Manhattan Project, Ted Hall didn’t share his colleagues’ elation after the successful detonation of the world’s first atomic bomb. Increasingly concerned that such a powerful weapon could lead to nuclear catastrophe, he decided to start passing key information about the bomb’s construction to the Soviet Union. At the University of Chicago he met and married Joan. Living under a cloud of suspicion and years of FBI surveillance and intimidation, the pair raised a family while Ted refocused his scientific brilliance on groundbreaking biophysics research.
A Compassionate Spy, two-time Oscar® nominee Steve James’ nuanced documentary, reveals the twists and turns of this real-life spy story, its profound impact on nuclear history, and the couple’s remarkable love and life together during more than 50 years of marriage.
Post-screening Q&A on August 24 with Dave Lindorff and Ben Paulker, National Security Editor, Washington Post.
- Ben Paulker is the national security editor of the Washington Post, running teams of reporters that focus on foreign policy, defense, intelligence, cybersecurity and domestic extremism. Pauker joined The Post in October 2022 from Politico, where he served as national security and world editor, responsible for coverage of diplomacy, defense and Canada, coordinating staff in Washington with more than 100 reporters and editors across Europe.
- Dave Lindorff has been an investigative journalist and author for over 50 years, a ’75 graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. After discovering and meeting Ted Hall’s widow Joan in 2017, he teamed up as a producer for A Compassionate Spy with director Steve James and Steve’s regular producer Mark Mitten. Dave and his harpsichordist/fortepianist wife Joyce Zankel LIndorff live near Philadelphia.
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