USA/1994—directed by Ayoka Chenzira | 85 minutes

“A gorgeous clarion call for our young Black girls, heralding the creativity and confidence that is the pride of our culture.”  - Ava DuVernay 

In 1994, when independent filmmaker Ayoka Chenzira completed Alma’s Rainbow, distributors failed to “get” her glorious coming-of-age comedy-drama about the day-to-day aspirations and triumphs of three Black women living in Brooklyn.

Teenager Rainbow Gold (Victoria Gabrielle Platt) is entering womanhood and navigating experiences around standards of beauty, self-image, and the rights Black women have over their bodies. Rainbow, who attends parochial school, studies dance, and is just becoming aware of boys, lives with her strait-laced mother Alma Gold (Kim Weston-Moran), who runs a hair salon in their home. When Alma’s free-spirited sister Ruby (Mizan Kirby) arrives from Paris after a 10-year absence, the sisters clash over the “proper” direction for Rainbow’s life. 

Alma's Rainbow presents a multi-layered Black women’s world where the characters are eager to embrace life and love joyfully, while still wrestling with what it means to exercise their agency. The year’s most revelatory rediscovery has been beautifully restored by The Academy Film Archive and The Film Foundation, and is presented by Julie Dash.

 "Nearly three decades after its initial release, Alma’s Rainbow is a revelation!”    -Stephen Saito, The Moveable Feast