Film Details
A coming-of-age comedy-drama about three African American women living in Brooklyn, Alma’s Rainbow explores the life of teenager Rainbow Gold (Victoria Gabrielle Platt) as she enters womanhood and navigates standards of beauty, self-image, and the rights women have over their bodies.
Rainbow attends a strict parochial school, studies dance, and lives with her strait-laced mother Alma (Kim Weston-Moran), who runs a hair salon in the parlor of their home and disapproves of her daughter’s newfound interest in boys.
When Alma’s free-spirited sister Ruby (Mizan Kirby) returns from Paris after a ten-year absence, the sisters clash over what constitutes the “proper” direction for Rainbow’s life. Alma’s Rainbow highlights a multi-layered Black women’s world where the characters live, love, and wrestle with what it means to exert and exercise their agency.
An essential film in the ‘90s Black cinema canon, Alma’s Rainbow was written, directed, and produced by award-winning, internationally acclaimed film and video artist Ayoka Chenzira.
"A gorgeous clarion call for our young Black girls, heralding the community, creativity and confidence that is the pride of our culture.” – Ava DuVernay
“Chenzira's much celebrated and award winning early work is essential viewing today as much as it was when first released in 1994.” – Julie Dash
“Heartfelt, visually stunning, and poignant for Black girls and women.” – Aramide A. Tinubu, Shadow and Act
“Timely and urgent. A complex portrait of Black womanhood that was all too uncommon for the era.” – Ronda Racha Penrice, The Wrap
About the restoration:
Julie Dash presents a new 4K restoration of Ayoka Chenzira’s Alma’s Rainbow. Restoration by the Academy Film Archive, The Film Foundation, and Milestone Films. Restoration supervised by Mark Toscano. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. Lab: Roundabout Entertainment and Audio Mechanics. With thanks to Vincent Pirozzi.
Director: Ayoka Chenzira
Cast: Victoria Gabrielle Platt, Kim Weston-Moran, Mizan Kirby
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 89 minutes