BOMBSHELL: THE HEDY LAMARR STORY

Showings

Ped Mall -Scene 1 Tue, Mar 27, 2018 7:00 PM
Event Info
Dialogue:Breaking Down the Boys Club: Women in STEM
Series Info
Series:Science on Screen
Women's March
Film Info
Rating:Not Rated
Runtime:90 minutes
Director:Alexandra Dean
Year Released:2017
Production Country:USA

Description

This screening will be followed by a discussion entitled "Breaking Down the Boys Club: Women in STEM", with the University of Iowa's Ananya Sen Gupta, PhD (Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering; Sarah Vigmostad, PhD (Associate Professor, Biomedial Engineering); and Michal Eynon-Lynch, Chief Educator and Co-Founder, Pear Deck.

“Alexandra relates Hedy Lamarr's ventures, those onscreen and off, with savvy and narrative snap, fluidly marshaling a mix of original interviews and archival material." - Manohla Dargis, The New York Times 

"Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr story rights a grevious wrong in the life, career, reputation and memory of a superstar. It fascinates both a film history and as a sobering reminder of how little credit a women like Lamarr received, even at the peak of her popularity." - Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

What do the most ravishingly beautiful actress of the 1930s and 40s and the inventor whose concepts were the basis of cell phone and bluetooth technology have in common? They are both Hedy Lamarr, the glamour icon whose gorgeous visage was the inspiration for Snow White and Cat Woman and a technological trailblazer who perfected a radio system to throw Nazi torpedoes off course during WWII. Weaving interviews and clips with never-before-heard audio tapes of Hedy speaking on the record about her incredible life - from her beginnings as an Austrian Jewish emigre to her scandalous nude scene in the 1933 film Ecstasy to her glittering Hollywood life to her groundbreaking, but completely uncredited inventions, to her later years when she became a recluse, impoverished and almost forgotton - Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story brings to light the story of an unusual and accomplished woman, spurned as too beautiful to be smart, but a role model to this day. Presented as part of Science on Screen® - An initiative of the COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE, with major support from the ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION. Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story will be presented as part of the National Evening of Science on Screen.

Speakers
Ananya Sen Gupta is an assistant professor in the University of Iowa's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a faculty affiliate of the University's Water Sustainability Initiative and Iowa Institute of Hydrologic Research - Hydroscience & Engineering. Dr. Sen Gupta develops computer algorithms that can map oil spills and other water-based phenomena, helping scientists interpret large sets of complex data and finding the patters within it. From Kolkata, India, Dr. Sen Gupta holds a bachelor's degree in electronics and telecommunications engineering from Jadavur University, and a masters's and PnD degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Sarah Vigmostad is an associate professor in biomedical engineering. Her research focusing on the advancement of physiologic computational modeling so that clinically relevant questions can be asked and answered, improving disease diagnosis and treatment. Her recent research has led to patent filings in the fields of virtual surgery and cancer diagnostics. Through this work and her experience teaching the biomedical engineering capstone design class, Dr. Vigmostad has had the opportunity to become involved with several entrepreneurial activities, including serving as an instructor and mentor to entrepreneurial teams in Venture School, as well as forming a start-up company with her colleague, Michael Henry, that focuses on developing tools to enable faster and more accurate cancer diagnoses.

Michal Eynon-Lynch is chief educator at and co-founded Pear Deck, and educational technology company whose product helps teachers create effective, interactive presentations for the classroom. Before Pear Deck, she founded ActiveGrade, a platform that allowed educators to better track their students' progress. She holds a bachelors degree from the University of Iowa, a masters in education from Colorado's Naropa University, and was a high school history and drama teacher before becoming an entrepreneur.