STREAMING PROGRAM INFORMATION
- This program is part of our Smithsonian Associates Streaming series.
- Platform: Zoom
- Program is free to Smithsonian Associates members; online registration is required.
- For multiple registrations, you will be asked to supply individual names and email addresses.
A female-dominated production team is behind the new World War II espionage thriller, A Call to Spy. With Britain becoming desperate in the beginning of WWII, Churchill orders his new agency, the Special Operations Executive (SOE), to recruit and train women as spies. Their daunting mission: conduct sabotage and build a resistance.
SOE’s spymistress Vera Atkins recruits two unusual candidates: Virginia Hall, an ambitious American with a wooden leg, and Noor Inayat, a Muslim pacifist. Together, the women help to undermine the Nazi regime in France, leaving an unmistakable legacy in their wake. Inspired by true stories, the original screenplay draws on files from the SOE, CIA, and OSS (the CIA’s precursor), as well as interviews with living relatives.
Join Sarah Megan Thomas, who wrote and produced A Call to Spy and stars as Virginia Hall, and director Lydia Dean Pilcher in conversation with Smithsonian Sidedoor podcast host and producer Lizzie Peabody as they discuss the making of the film and its relevance today
Note: A screening of IFC Films' A Call to Spy is not part of the virtual event. You can view A Call to Spy on demand beginning October 2; find information on how to stream it here.
View the trailer for A Call to Spy.
Patron Information
- Once registered, patrons should receive an automatic email confirmation from CustomerService@SmithsonianAssociates.org.
- Separate Zoom link information will be emailed closer to the date of the program. If you do not receive your Zoom link information 24 hours prior to the start of the program, please email Customer Service for assistance.
- View Common FAQs about our Streaming Programs on Zoom.
SMITHSONIAN CONNECTION
Listen to “The Milkmaid Spy,” a Sidedoor episode that traces Virginia Hall’s exploits in occupied France, where she built Resistance networks, delivered critical intelligence, and sold cheese to the enemy.
About Sidedoor: More than 155 million treasures fill the Smithsonian’s vaults, but where public view ends, Sidedoor begins. With the help of biologists, artists, historians, archaeologists, zookeepers, and astrophysicists, host Lizzie Peabody sneaks listeners through Smithsonian’s side door to search for stories that can’t be found anywhere else. Follow @SidedoorPod for updates and bonus content.
