- Description:
- BluRay - Multi-Zone. viewing copy. 2 videodiscs of 2.
- Notes:
- Discs include new 4k restoration of Ayoka Chenzira’s 1994 film, as well as short films by Chenzira.
Supplemental materials incldue: a panel discussion after the restoration’s world premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, an oral history provided by Chenzira for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, and Peggy Dilland Toone on Alma’s Rainbow.
Titles
+ Alma’s Rainbow
- Director:
- Chenzira, Ayoka
- Production Co:
- Crossgrain Pictures
- Running Time:
- Feature. 89 minutes
- Sound:
- sound - DTS-HD Master Audio
- Color:
- color and b/w
- Country:
- USA
- Year:
- 1994
- Language:
- English language with optional English and English for hard of hearing subtitles
- Genre:
- Comedy, Drama
- Notes:
- Rainbow Gold (Victoria Gabrielle Platt), a teenager coming of age in Brooklyn, looks to two vastly different models of womanhood: her straitlaced 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; and her free-spirited, larger-than-life aunt Ruby (Mizan Kirby), who has just returned from Paris after a ten-year absence and whose presence shakes up the household.
- Link to:
- AFI catalog
+ Syvilla: They Dance to Her Drum
- Director:
- Chenzira, Ayoka
- Running Time:
- Short. 22 minutes
- Sound:
- sound - DTS-HD Master Audio
- Color:
- b/w
- Country:
- USA
- Year:
- 1979
- Language:
- English language
- Genre:
- Documentary
- Notes:
- Ayoka Chenzira’s 1979 tribute to dancer-choreographer Syvilla Fort.
- Link to:
- AFI catalog
+ Hairpiece: A Film for Nappy Headed People
- Director:
- Chenzira, Ayoka
- Running Time:
- Short. 10 minutes
- Sound:
- sound - DTS-HD Master Audio
- Color:
- color
- Country:
- USA
- Year:
- 1984
- Language:
- English language
- Genre:
- Animation, Documentary
- Notes:
- An animated satire on the question of self image for African American women living in a society where beautiful hair is viewed as hair that blows in the wind and lets you be free. Lively tunes and witty narration accompany a quick-paced inventory of relaxers, gels and curlers. Such rituals are all-too familiar to African American women-and indeed to all women confronted with an unattainable ideal of beauty. This short film has become essential for discussions of racism, African American cinema and empowerment. Used by hundreds of groups as diverse as museums, churches, hospitals and hair stylists.
+ The Lure and The Lore
- Director:
- Chenzira, Ayoka
- Production Co:
- Crossgrain Pictures
- Running Time:
- Short. 15 minutes
- Sound:
- sound - DTS-HD Master Audio
- Color:
- color
- Country:
- USA
- Year:
- 1988
- Language:
- English language
- Genre:
- Documentary
- Notes:
- A collaboration between film/video artist Ayoka Chenzera and performance artist Thomas Pinnok who performs his “immigrant folktales,” using traditional lore of his native Jamaica to dramatize his migration to New York in the 60’s.
+ Zajota and the Boogie Spirit
- Director:
- Chenzira, Ayoka
- Production Co:
- Crossgrain Pictures
- Running Time:
- Short. 19 minutes
- Sound:
- sound - DTS-HD Master Audio
- Color:
- color
- Country:
- USA
- Year:
- 1989
- Language:
- English language
- Genre:
- Animation
- Notes:
- A rhythmic celebration of African dance with a score by Mino Cinelu.
+ Pull Your Head to the Moon: Stories of Creole Women
- Director:
- Chenzira, Ayoka
- Production Co:
- PBS
- Running Time:
- Short. 13 minutes
- Sound:
- sound - DTS-HD Master Audio
- Color:
- color
- Country:
- USA
- Year:
- 1992
- Language:
- English language
- Genre:
- Documentary
- Notes:
- A film that depicts a young man seeking comfort in a visit to his Creole grandmother while someone very close to him is dying of AIDS.
+ Williamswood
- Director:
- Chenzira, Ayoka
- Running Time:
- Short. 17 minutes
- Sound:
- sound - DTS-HD Master Audio
- Color:
- color
- Country:
- USA, Austria
- Year:
- 1992
- Language:
- English language
- Genre:
- Experimental / Avant Garde
- Notes:
- An experimental performance film featuring choreography of Hubert Lepka directed by Chenzira for Austrian television.
+ MOTV (My Own TV)
- Director:
- Chenzira, Ayoka
- Running Time:
- Short. 57 minutes
- Sound:
- sound - DTS-HD Master Audio
- Color:
- color
- Country:
- USA
- Year:
- 1993
- Language:
- English language
- Genre:
- Drama, Romance
- Notes:
- Set in Brooklyn, New York, MOTV (My Own TV) is a love story between a Jamaican immigrant and his African American wife that turns bittersweet when the search for the American dream goes awry.
+ Snowfire
- Director:
- Chenzira, Ayoka
- Running Time:
- Short. 8 minutes
- Sound:
- sound - DTS-HD Master Audio
- Color:
- b/w
- Country:
- USA
- Year:
- 1994
- Language:
- English language
- Genre:
- Animation, Drama
- Notes:
- A stop motion short by Ayoka Chenzira reflecting on a family grieving over the death of their son.
+ In the Rivers of Mercy Angst
- Director:
- Chenzira, Ayoka
- Running Time:
- Short. 21 minutes
- Sound:
- sound - DTS-HD Master Audio
- Color:
- color
- Country:
- USA
- Year:
- 1996
- Language:
- English language
- Genre:
- Experimental / Avant Garde
- Notes:
- A story in the tradition of magical realism, Mercy Angst is captured by a mischievous spirit known as The Keeper of Memory, who uses her to vent his anger - a force that is slowly destroying her.
+ HERadventure
- Director:
- Chenzira, Ayoka
- Production Co:
- Urban Chameleon Media
- Running Time:
- Short. 33 minutes
- Sound:
- sound - DTS-HD Master Audio
- Color:
- color
- Country:
- USA
- Year:
- 2013
- Language:
- English language
- Genre:
- Sci Fi, Interactive
- Notes:
- HERadventure is the brainchild of Ayoka Chenzira and Ayoka’s daughter and longtime collaborator, HaJ. Ayoka and HaJ’s creative approach on the HERadventure project combines live action filmmaking with interaction through gameplay. At the heart of HERadventure is a coming-of-age story that features a reluctant young woman who accidentally falls to earth and ends up a super hero. The twist is that right in the middle of the story the YOU become HER (the main character) and have to navigate through the virtual environment to perform simple tasks in order to find out what happens in the end. The goal of the project is to create an interactive storytelling experience that engages viewers and raises awareness about important social issues that impact the lives of women and girls.