A Raisin in the Sun

Based on the 1959 foundational Chicago play penned by the legendary Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun is a portrait of the experience a generation of Black families endured on the front lines of demanding recognition of their personhood while planting seeds of stability through one family’s battle of homeownership on the the shifting sands of integration on Chicago’s South Side. Realized for the screen in 1961 by director Daniel Petrie and made iconic through the unforgettable performances of a cast led by Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee, the film exposes the torturous reality of what happens to a dream deferred.

This Community Cinema screening is presented in observation of Black History Month and in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Chicago International Film Festival’s Black Perspective program, which championed and elevated Black storytelling for three decades.