Alma's Rainbow. 1994. USA. Written and directed by Ayoka Chenzira. With Kim Weston-Moran, Victoria Gabrielle Platt, Mizan Kirby. DCP courtesy Kino Lorber. 85 min.
Ayoka Chenzira’s debut feature film is a coming-of-age comedy-drama about three Black women living in Brooklyn. Teenager Rainbow Gold (Victoria Gabrielle Platt) is entering womanhood, navigating conversations and experiences around standards of beauty, self-image, and a Black woman’s right to control her own body. She lives with her straight-laced mother Alma Gold (Kim Weston-Moran), who runs a hair salon in the parlor of their home. When Alma’s free-spirited sister Ruby (Mizan Kirby) arrives from Paris after a 10-year absence, the sisters clash over what constitutes the “proper” direction of a young woman’s life. Alma, who has fooled herself into believing she has no need of male companionship, advises her daughter to follow her example. Ruby encourages both her niece and her sister to embrace life—and love—fully and joyfully. Alma’s Rainbow, which never received widespread distribution, highlights a multilayered Black woman's world, where the characters live, love, and wrestle with what it means to exert their agency.