Alma's Rainbow

Directed by Ayoka Chenzira
Year: 1994
Country: U.S.
Language: English
English Closed Captions

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.

Restoration by the Academy Film Archive, Film Foundation, and Milestone Films. Restoration supervised by Mark Toscano. Funding provided by The Film Foundation and Hobson Lucas Family Foundation. Lab: Roundabout Entertainment and Audio Mechanics. With thanks to Vincent Pirozzi.

"A gorgeous clarion call for our young Black girls, heralding the community, creativity and confidence that is the pride of our culture.


“Chenzira's much celebrated and award winning early work is essential viewing today as much as it was when first released in 1994.”


"Ayoka has been and remains an important filmmaker whose works inspire and celebrate the richness of Black culture. Through her vision, we witness the pain and beauty of the Black experience in a way that encourages hope and love. We need this."


“Explores the interior lives of Black women with loving acuity… and a whole lot of heart and humor.”


“Unspools the complex relationships between two generations of women.”


"An integral part of ’90s Black cinema.” 


“A richly seasoned dish with humorous seasoning."


“Heartfelt, visually stunning, and poignant for Black girls and women.”


“Timely and urgent. A complex portrait of Black womanhood that was all too uncommon for the era.”


Cast
Kim Weston-Moran
Victoria Gabrielle Platt
Mizan Kirby
Mizan Nunes
Lee Dobson

Crew
Directed by Ayoka Chenzira
Cinematographer Ronald K. Gray
Editor Lillian Benson