BOMBSHELL: The Hedy Lamarr Story

The JCC is very proud to host the premiere of this film in Rochester.

 Lamarr -- originally Hedy Kiesler of Vienna -- "was a remarkable woman with a story no Hollywood script could rival," said JFF Interim Programming Director Ruth Cowing, who worked with Zeitgeist Films to set up the screening. Cowing added that “her renowned beauty was more than matched by her bravery -- she narrowly fled WWII Austria and an abusive husband under cover of night -- and by her quiet brilliance as an inventor who did nothing less than revolutionize modern communication.”

While Lamarr (ZIEGFELD GIRL, SAMSON AND DELILAH) achieved fame as the world's most beautiful woman -- Snow White and Cat Woman were both based on her iconic look -- her dazzling beauty and glamorous life stood in the way of her being given the credit she deserved as a technological trailblazer. She invented a covert communication system to try and help defeat the Nazis, then gave her patent to the Navy, but was ignored and told to sell kisses for war bonds instead. It was only towards the very end of her life that tech pioneers discovered her concept which is now used as the basis for secure WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth.

Lamarr never publicly talked about her life as an inventor and so her family thought her story died when she did. But in 2016, director Alexandra Dean & team unearthed four never-before-heard audio tapes of Lamarr speaking on the record about her incredible life. Combining this newly discovered interview with intimate reflections from her children, closest friends, family and admirers, including Mel Brooks and Robert Osborne, BOMBSHELL (executive produced by Susan Sarandon) finally gives Hedy Lamarr the chance to tell her own story.