Victoria Gabrielle Platt

While all Black filmmakers need more recognition, the award-winning independent producer, director, animator, Ayoka Chenzira has been particularly in need of rediscovery. Visual media have been made richer by her focus on developing stories of Black life and educating the next generation of Black filmmakers, including her daughter HaJ, her collaborator on HERadventure, an online, interactive fantasy film posted on Chenzira’s website and YouTube channel. Now, Academy Film Archive, The Film Foundation, and Milestone Films have produced a 4K restoration of her only feature film, Alma’s Rainbow (1994), in which a teenage girl, her mother, and her aunt all come of age in different ways.