Benalto Film Series: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner hosted by Jason Fischer

Our Benalto Film Series kicks off with Sydney Poitier classic, In Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner. Hosted by filmmaker and art facilitator Jason R. Fischer, an audience discussion will follow the film and allow a deeper dive into the themes of the time and the story itself.

Doors at 6:30pm and movie at 7pm.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner is a 1967 American romantic comedy-drama film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, and written by William Rose. It stars Spencer Tracy (in his final role), Sidney Poitier, and Katharine Hepburn, and features Hepburn’s niece Katharine Houghton.

The film was one of the few films of the time to depict an interracial marriage in a positive light, as interracial marriage historically had been illegal in many states of the United States. It was still illegal in 17 states, until June 12, 1967, six months before the film was released, and scenes were filmed just before anti-miscegenation laws were struck down by the Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia.
In 2017, on its 50th anniversary, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

Rating: PG

Runtime: 108 minutes