Trailblazing actor and director Sidney Poitier (1927–2022) — a founding Vice Chair of the American Film Institute and recipient of the 20th AFI Life Achievement Award — forged a singular path in American cinema as one of the first and most visible Black stars in Hollywood, as a boundary-pushing director and as an activist and diplomat. In 2002, he was given an Honorary Academy Award®, in recognition of his "remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being."
This retrospective presents a selection of Poitier's finest work both in front of the camera and behind it. Highlights include Poitier's first credited screen role in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Oscar®-nominated noir NO WAY OUT (1950); LILIES OF THE FIELD (1963), for which Poitier became the first Black actor to win an Oscar® in a leading role; and 50th-anniversary screenings of Poitier's directorial debut, the action-comedy-Western BUCK AND THE PREACHER (1972). We also spotlight some of Poitier's best-known and most beloved work with THE DEFIANT ONES (1958), A RAISIN IN THE SUN (1961), IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967) and GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER (1967).
Thursday, June 30
More dates through July 13, 2022
AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center
8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD 20910