Based off the nonfiction book of the same name, Hidden Figurestells the story of Katherine Johnson and her two friends and colleagues Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson working at a racially segregated West Area Computers division of NASA in the 1960s. Each woman contributed to NASA in a significant way; Johnson calculated the trajectories to help John Glenn orbit the Earth, Vaughan was the first African American woman to be Head of Personnel, and Jackson served as the Federal Women's Program Manager in the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs.
It's easy to write off Hidden Figures as a run of the mill, feel good award season bait, but the film tells a necessary and important story not many are familiar with already. While their accomplishments are significant (Katherine Johnson has a building at NASA named after her), none of these women are household names. Hidden Figuresgoes deeper than merely telling a story of how three black women overcome endless obstacles to accomplish their dreams—it explores a deep and supportive friendship between women who find ways to lift each other up in the face of adversity.
Allison Schroeder, who co-adapted the screenplay alongside director Theodore Melfi, tells Broadly what it meant to bring such an important story to the screen and how her own personal experiences as a woman in STEM brought the story to life.
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