Film
Alma’s Rainbow + Hair Piece: A Film for Nappyheaded People
1993, 90min
With Victoria Gabrielle Platt, Kim Weston-Moran, Mizan Kirby
Known for her socially conscious films that challenge stereotypes about Black culture, Ayoka Chenzira’s first feature film is a coming-of-age dramedy that highlights a group of middle-class Black women living in Brooklyn. As Rainbow (Platt) enters womanhood and navigates her own experiences around beauty standards, self-image, and the rights of Black women over their own bodies, her pragmatic mother Alma Gold (Weston-Moran) and free-spirited aunt Ruby Gold (Kirby) disagree on the “proper” direction for Rainbow’s life. In this multi-layered Black woman's world, Rainbow, Alma, and Ruby wrestle with love and what it means to exert and exercise their own agency. New Restoration!
A Kino Lorber/Milestone release
1984, 10min
In this satirical short, Chenzira utilizes mixed media and animation to unpack the stereotypes associated with Black hair while critiquing the limits of the European beauty standard. She draws attention to the physical pain Black women endure to straighten their hair, and the emotional pain that comes as a result of the pressure to conform. New Restoration!
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