Ayoka Chenzira

Ayoka "Ayo" Chenzira (born November 8, 1953) is an independent African-American producer, film director, 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. She has earned international acclaim for her experimental, documentary, animation, and cross-genre filmmaking productions. 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 stereotype representations of African Americans in the mainstream media. Chenzira is most well known for her 35mm feature film Alma’s Rainbow (1993), the drama MOTV, animated films Hair Piece: A Film for Nappyheaded People (1984) and Zajota & the Boogie Spirit (1989). Many of her recent works as a transmedia storyteller play with the increasingly digital media world through art that combines material objects with digital environments, and interactive films including Chenzira and her daughter HaJ's collaboration on HERadventure (2013).