''The World's Best Prom'' is a 2006 documentary film about a high school

prom A promenade dance or prom is a formal dance party for graduating high school students at the end of the school year. Students participating in the prom will typically vote for a ''prom king'' and ''prom queen''. Other students may be honored ...

Racine, Wisconsin Racine ( ) is a city in Racine County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River (Wisconsin), Root River, south of Milwaukee and north of Chicago. It is the List ...

. ''Prom'' was released as a short film and was expanded to feature-length documentary length. It was released in its longer form on April 4, 2006. It was filmed on location in Racine and was shot entirely in

digital video Digital video is an electronic representation of moving visual images (video) in the form of encoded digital data. This is in contrast to analog video, which represents moving visual images in the form of analog signals. Digital video comprises ...

. The film was originally a 17-minute short film of the same name which won Best Documentary at the Wisconsin Film Festival. The film was also re-edited as mini-episodes for Truth, but the episodes never aired.

Plot

The "mega prom" was introduced to Racine almost 50 years ago by the city's

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest Service club, service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, go ...

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.

People

*Tonya Witherspoon is a shy student from Racine's inner city who dreams of leaving Racine and becoming a forensic pathologist. *Dori Sorensen is an outgoing, rebellious Catholic school student with big prom expectations. *Ben is a soft-spoken football player with a trouble-making, but protective, older brother. For Ben and his mother, graduation and prom will be a significant milestone in their lives: Ben has expectations of leaving Racine and starting his life anew.

External links

* *
OVO
- Production company
Matson Films
- Distributor
'World's Best Prom': A Town-Wide Celebration
- NPR story from ''Day to Day'', June 24, 2005
iTunes Podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Worlds Best Prom, The 2006 films American documentary films Documentary films about high school in the United States Documentary films about cities Documentary films about proms American independent films Films set in Wisconsin Racine, Wisconsin 2006 documentary films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language documentary films English-language independent films