Alma's Rainbow

A coming-of-age comedy-drama about three black women living in Brooklyn, Ayoka Chenzira’s Alma's Rainbow explores the life of teenager Rainbow Gold who is entering womanhood and navigating conversations and experiences around standards of beauty, self-image, and the rights Black women have over their bodies. Rainbow attends a strict parochial school, studies dance, and is just becoming aware of boys. She lives with her strait-laced mother Alma Gold, who runs a hair salon in the parlor of their home. When Alma’s free-spirited sister Ruby arrives from Paris after a 10-year absence, the sisters clash over what constitutes the “proper” direction Rainbow’s life should take. Alma has fooled herself into believing she has no need of male companionship and 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 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. (Kino Lorber)