The Oscar nominated, history making film, Hidden Figures has acquired a new accolade – an educational exchange program for women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields. The movie is the first to inspire a publicly funded exchange program in the history of the U.S. State Department.The program will bring fifty women working in math and science from 50 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America to convene in the United States.
A few months after the movie’s release, the State Department was deluged with requests for the film from embassies around the world. In April and May, it was screened in an unprecedented 80 overseas locales. The US State Department has created a new public/private program called #hiddennomore with Fox Studios.
Participants will travel to Washington DC, where Fox will welcome them with a screening at National Geographic. The women will spend three weeks meeting with organizations across the U.S., including universities and the Girl Scouts, that promote STEM for women and girls. Fox, has donated nearly $400,000 to such Figures initiatives as scholarship competitions and free screenings.