Ayoka Chenzira
Directing
Biography
Ayoka "Ayo" Chenzira (born November 8, 1953) is an independent African-American producer, film and television director, animator, writer, experimental filmmaker, and transmedia storyteller. She is the first African American woman animator and one of a handful of Black experimental filmmakers working since the late 1970s. Chenzira studied film and photography at The College of New Rochelle and accomplished her M.A. degree in education at Columbia University. She received her B.F.A. degree in film production from New York University. In 1984, Chenzira was one of seven writer/directors selected for the Sundance Institute. She was one of the first African-American women to produce a feature-length film, Alma's Rainbow (1993). She has earned international acclaim for her work. Her work, as well as her efforts as one of the first African American woman film educators, have led some in the press to describe her as a media activist for social justice and challenging representations of African American stereotypes in the mainstream media. She has formed or otherwise been involved with several companies and nonprofits dedicated to Black films, including the Black Filmmakers Foundation, Red Carnelian, and Production Partners. Along with 14 other panelists, Chenzira's contributions for the Minority Task Force on Public Television resulted in the first Multicultural Public Television Fund. She has also served as a media panelist for the Jerome Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts. Chenzira served as the Chair of the Department of Media and Communication Arts at the City College of New York, where she managed programs in advertising, public relations, journalism, film and video; she also co-created their first M.F.A in media arts production graduate program. In the mid 1990s, Chenzira was consultant to the M-Net Television of South Africa and taught screenwriting and directing in Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa. In 2001, Chenzira was invited to serve as the first William and Camille Cosby Endowed Professor in the Arts at Spelman College, where she created and directed the award-winning Digital Moving Image Salon (DMIS), a year-long research and documentary production course. Chenzira also created and served as director of Oral Narratives and Digital Technology, a joint venture between Spelman College and the Durham Institute of Technology (DIT) where she designed and taught documentary filmmaking primarily for Zulu students at DIT. She has received numerous accolades, including the 2020 Cultural Innovator Award from Black Women Animate and Cartoon Network, the inclusion of her 2018 work Hair Piece in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, two awards from the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, and a NAACP Award nomination. In 2019, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences began to restore and preserve Chenzira's films. She has been honored for her contributions to Black cinema by the then-mayors of New York City and Detroit. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ayoka Chenzira, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Follows two of America’s wealthiest families, the Carringtons and the Colbys, as they feud for control over their fortune and their children focusing on Fallon Carrington, the daughter of billionaire Blake Carrington, and her soon-to-be stepmother, Cristal, a Hispanic woman marrying into this WASP family and America’s most powerful class.
Dynasty
The unscrupulous world of the Greenleaf family and their sprawling Memphis megachurch, where scandalous secrets and lies are as numerous as the faithful. Born of the church, the Greenleaf family love and care for each other, but beneath the surface lies a den of iniquity—greed, adultery, sibling rivalry and conflicting values—that threatens to tear apart the very core of their faith that holds them together.
Greenleaf
Aster Calyx and Halan Kai Nielsen are inextricably drawn to Beacon 23. Navigating one threat after another, they unravel the beacon’s mysteries, just in time to face their most powerful enemy.
Beacon 23
In 1943, Carson Shaw travels to Chicago to try out for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. There, she meets other women who also dream of playing pro baseball and makes connections that open up her world. Rockford local Max Chapman also comes to the tryouts but is turned away. With the support of her best friend Clance, she must forge a new path to pursue her dream.
A League of Their Own
A young aspiring writer discovers secrets about her family's past when she finds herself mysteriously being pulled back and forth in time to a 19th century plantation.
Kindred
4400 overlooked, undervalued, or otherwise marginalized people who vanished without a trace over the last hundred years are all returned in an instant, having not aged a day and with no memory of what happened to them. As the government races to analyze the potential threat and contain the story, the 4400 themselves must grapple with the fact that they've been returned with a few "upgrades", and the increasing likelihood that they were all brought back now for a specific reason.
4400
MeTV's cartoon curator Bill and Toony the Tuna host a weekday morning showcase of classic theatrical cartoons, featuring popular characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tom and Jerry, and Popeye the Sailor.
Toon In with Me
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. This short film has become essential for discussions of racism, African American cinema, and empowerment.
Hair Piece: A Film for Nappy Headed People
The teenage daughter of a Brooklyn beauty-parlor owner blossoms under the influence of her recently-returned show-biz aunt.
Alma's Rainbow
A gay man living through the HIV/AIDS crisis reflects upon his recent history of loss with the help of his grandmother, who tells him a story of her own trauma and loss during the Jim Crow-era South.
Pull Your Head to the Moon: Stories of Creole Women
A collaboration between filmmaker Ayoka Chenzira and performance artist Thomas Pinnock, who performs his "immigrant folktales" using traditional lore of his native Jamaica to dramatize his migration to New York in the 60's.
The Lure and the Lore
A coming-of-age story that features a reluctant young woman who accidentally falls to Earth and ends up a superhero. Originally conceived as a project which combined live action filmmaking with interaction through video game mechanics.
HERadventure
A love story between a Jamaican immigrant and his wife that turns bittersweet when the search for the American dream goes awry.
MOTV (My Own TV)
Openly addressing sensitive issues of slavery and the African diaspora, this animated short traces the origins of funk, soul, and rhythm from the "boogie spirit's" original home in Africa, to its worldwide influence in today's popular culture.
Zajota and the Boogie Spirit
An experimental short film with themes of machinery, modernization and the human form. Produced as part of a program sponsored by Austrian machinery corporation EMCO.
Williamswood
Chenzira's 1979 tribute to dancer-choreographer Syvilla Fort.
Syvilla: They Dance To Her Drum
A father struggles to fully embrace the life and death of his gay son.
Snowfire
A woman struggles to free herself from the "Keeper of Memory" in this surreal odyssey.
In the Rivers of Mercy Angst
Through interviews with survivors of sexual abuse, parents, social workers, community activists, and abusers thmselves, this piece explores the feelings and experiences of sexually abused children and their families.