A Raisin in the Sun (1961 film) A Raisin in the Sun (1961 film) A Raisin in the Sun is a 1961 drama film directed by Daniel Petrie and starring Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Claudia McNeil, Diana Sands, Roy Glenn, and Louis Gossett Jr. (in his film debut), and adapted from the 1959 play of the same name by Lorraine Hansberry. It follows a black family that wants a better life away from the city. "A Raisin in the Sun" was released by Columbia Pictures on May 29, 1961. In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States of America National Film Registry by
The Sun in a Net and "Golden Gate" ("Zlatá brána"). A highly likely source of the central theme was the 95% solar eclipse that occurred in Central Europe on Feb. 15, 1961. Additional inspiration for the symbolic construction of the storyline may have come from ancient solar myths that have been available in Europe in increasingly numerous publications since at least 1865. A specific myth of the Sun in a net was brought from Polynesia, more general myths of catching the Sun have been attributed to the pre-Columbian Americas, some of the published solar myths may date back to Indo-European prehistory. Associations with Sol Invictus