Parker Sawyers and Tika Sumpter pose at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

It’s the sweet, romantic story of a first date — albeit the fictionalized first date of the couple who currently occupy the White House.

“Southside With You,” the feature film based on Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson’s first date, debuted Sunday to a packed house at the Sundance Film Festival.

The movie tells the story of a single day in 1989 — the first day that summer associate, Harvard student Barack Obama (Parker Sawyers), spent with his adviser, Michelle Robinson (Tika Sumpter), a second-year associate with a Chicago corporate law firm. He believes he’s on a date. She believes she’s spending the day with a professional colleague. By the end of a day that moves from The Art Institute of Chicago to a picnic lunch to a community organizing meeting, watching the then-newly released Spike Lee film “Do the Right Thing,” they’re both on the same page.

Sawyer’s portrayal of Obama brings to the screen the unmistakable cadence and quick smile of the man who would become president. Sumpter shows a young Michelle as confident and determined, caring and kind.

Director and screenwriter Richard Tanne says though the movie is fictionalized, he researched what actually happened on the date from news articles and books. He filled in the conversation — “there wasn’t a note-taker on the date.”

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