Drawing on rich archival resources, including FBI surveillance records, Tracy Heather Strain deftly composes a moving profile of Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965). The African-American South Side native is best known for “A Raisin in the Sun,” her 1959 Broadway play starring Sidney Poitier that was adapted by Hollywood. To contextualize Hansberry’s too-short career, Strain details 1930s Chicago, postwar Harlem, ’60s Greenwich Village and the civil rights movement. Hansberry was a headstrong intellectual wielding her words for racial justice. PBS will air this “American Masters” film in 2018. Strain and narrator LaTanya Richardson Jackson are scheduled to attend Sunday’s screening. 5 p.m. Oct. 14; 11:45 a.m. Oct. 15.
The Chicago International Film Festival continues through Oct. 26 at AMC River East 21, 322 E. Illinois
