An archival-rich biography of writer-activist Toni Cade Bambara, whose novels, essays, and filmmaking galvanized movements, illuminated by testimonies from Toni Morrison, Nikky Finney, and Haile Gerima. Presented by Renew Missouri.
Director: Monica Henriquez & Louis Massiah
Runtime: 105
Fest Year: 2026
In 1970, Toni Cade Bambara edited The Black Woman, an anthology introducing readers to Alice Walker, Audre Lorde, and Nikki Giovanni. Then came stories like Gorilla, My Love; a novel, The Salt Eaters; and documentaries, including The Bombing of Osage Avenue (1987), co-directed with Massiah. Then the teaching, the organizing, the living so freely that people still describe her aura and how she moved through a room. Massiah, Philadelphia’s Scribe Video Center founder and a director for Eyes on the Prize II, spent decades building this film. Co-directed by Monica Henriquez, TCB presents lessons on cultural organizing from those who knew her: Toni Morrison, Nikky Finney, Haile Gerima. Family, students, fellow organizers. They don’t just remember her; they describe being in her presence. The result is not a monument but a transmission: how to use art as a way of building and strengthening communities—lessons we need now more than ever. (YF) Presented by Renew Missouri.