Plot
The "mega prom" was introduced to Racine almost 50 years ago by the city's Rotary Club after an alcohol-related car accident. As a result, the Rotary decided to sponsor a post-prom party for the city's high schools as a safe alternative for prom-goers. The film focuses on the prom-obsessed residents of Racine, and in particular, two very different girls and one boy (Tonya, Dori, and Ben) who are followed in the days and nights leading up to their prom night.
Racine is a racially mixed population. The film portrays the long history of its one-of-a-kind prom.
Some of the students are going to college after graduation; others are headed to the military. The film gives an inside look at everything from the students' selection of gowns to dinner. The celebration begins with a rowdy parade where students are shown riding fire engines, 18-wheelers, and even elephants through the city streets. Prom-goers from seven city high schools converge on one citywide prom to make red carpet entrances.
As the credits roll, we are given an update almost five years later about some of the people featured in the film. Several have not achieved their high school goals. Others have lost contact with their high school sweethearts. One heartfelt scene shows a couple going off to war.
Racine is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River. Racine is situated 22 miles (35 km) south of Milwaukee and approximately 60 miles (100 km) north of Chicago. It is the principal city of the US Census Bureau's Racine metropolitan area. The Racine metropolitan area is, in turn, counted as part of the Milwaukee combined statistical area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 77,816, making it the fifth-most populous city in Wisconsin. In January 2017, it was rated "the most affordable place to live in the world" by the Demographia International Housing Affordability survey.
A promenade dance, commonly called a prom in American English, is a dance party for high school students. It may be offered in semi-formal black tie or informal suit for boys, and evening gowns for girls. This event is typically held near the end of the school year. There may be individual junior and senior proms or they may be combined.
Hall v Durham Catholic School Board was a 2002 court case in which Marc Hall, a Canadian teenager, fought a successful legal battle against the Durham Catholic District School Board to bring a same-sex date to his high school prom. The case made Canadian and international headlines.
10 Things I Hate About You is a 1999 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Gil Junger and starring Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Larisa Oleynik. The screenplay, by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, is a modernization of William Shakespeare's comedy The Taming of the Shrew, retold in a late-1990s American high school setting. The film follows new student Cameron (Gordon-Levitt) who is smitten with Bianca (Oleynik) and, in order to get around her father's strict rules on dating, attempts to get bad boy Patrick (Ledger) to date Bianca's antisocial sister, Kat (Stiles). The film is named after a poem Kat writes about her romance with Patrick. Much of the filming took place in the Seattle metropolitan area, with many scenes shot at Stadium High School in Tacoma, Washington.
Caitlin's Way is a teen drama television series that aired from 2000 to 2002. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States and YTV in Canada. The series was co-created by Thomas W. Lynch and Paul M. Belous.
Almost Summer is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Martin Davidson, and produced by Motown Productions for Universal Pictures. It is the only Motown theatrical feature not to center on African-American characters. Set in a generic Southern California high school, the plot revolves around a student council election that stirs up assorted petty jealousies among various characters.
Lori and George Schappell are conjoined twins. George has performed as a country singer. As of 2022, they are the oldest living conjoined twins in the world. Guinness World Records noted that George's gender transition made him and Lori the first set of conjoined twins to identify as different genders.
Mark Metcalf is an American television and film actor often playing the role of an antagonistic and aggrieved authority figure.
Washington Park High School is a public, four-year high school in Racine, Wisconsin, USA, with an enrollment of 1,500 students. Its school colors are blue and orange. The school's mascot, the panther, was adopted by the Class of 1949, reportedly because of a nearby Native American effigy mound in the shape of a panther. It is a part of the Racine Unified School District.
William Horlick High School is a comprehensive public four-year high school in Racine, Wisconsin with an enrollment of approximately 2,000 students. The school opened to students in 1928, after William Horlick, the original patent holder for malted milk, donated the land the school was built on. It was designed by Racine architect J. Mandor Matson.
Baruch College Campus High School (BCCHS) is a public high school located in Kips Bay in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. BCCHS is renowned for its high academic standards, advisory program and perfect graduation rate.
London Film School (LFS) is a film school in London and is situated in a converted brewery in Covent Garden, London, neighbouring Soho, a hub of the UK film industry. It is the oldest film school in the UK.
Walden III Middle and High School is a middle and high school in Racine, Wisconsin that offers alternative education. Walden is one of the Racine Unified School District's two magnet schools for secondary students, alongside the REAL School. Located between the city's Midtown and School Section neighborhoods, Walden is smaller than most Racine schools, with 292 high school and 246 middle school students as of 2016, and "emphasizes increased freedom based on responsibility and accountability".
Benjamin Jeffrey Steinbauer is an American director, writer and producer, who is best known for directing the feature documentary Winnebago Man (2009). Steinbauer has directed other documentaries, including Chop & Steele (2022), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, Brute Force (2012) and Heroes From The Storm (2017), as well as episodic television for the PBS show Stories of the Mind and the CBS show Pink Collar Crimes.
Racine College was an Episcopal preparatory school and college in Racine, Wisconsin, that operated between 1852 and 1933. Located south of the city along Lake Michigan, the campus has been maintained and is today known as the DeKoven Center, a conference center, educational facility, and special events venue operated by the DeKoven Foundation.
Cynthia Wade is an American television, commercial and film director, producer and cinematographer based in New York City. She has directed documentaries on social issues including Shelter Dogs in 2003 about animal welfare and Freeheld in 2007 about LGBT rights as well as television commercials and web campaigns. She has won over 40 film festival awards, won an Oscar in 2008, and was nominated for her second Oscar in 2013.
Prom Night in Mississippi is a 2009 Canadian-American documentary film written and directed by Paul Saltzman. The documentary follows a group of 2008 Charleston High School high school seniors in Charleston, Mississippi as they prepare for their senior prom, the first racially integrated prom in Charleston history.
Vishvanath Buddhika Keerthisena, also known as Boodee Keerthisena, is a Sri Lankan filmmaker. He began his career drawing comics before moving into painting, dress design, and visual arts. He moved into music in the late 1980s, and performed in a band called "Boo-Dee and the Woo-Zees" (1986–1992) as the lead singer.
Teen Spirit is an American television film that premiered on ABC Family on August 7, 2011. It is directed by Gil Junger and stars Cassie Scerbo and Lindsey Shaw as the main protagonists.
Ronald Bruce Pittman is a Canadian television and film director best known for directing the 1987 slasher Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II. He also directed the 1989 film Where the Spirit Lives, which won the Gemini Award for Best TV movie and numerous international awards.
