About the Film

TCB - The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing (2025, 105 minutes) is a biography of the influential writer, filmmaker and cultural worker, who with humor and deep insight, inspired a generation of artists to dedicate themselves to community empowerment. The film is structured as a series of lessons on cultural organizing, gleaned from Bambara's life and shared by her friends, colleagues and students.

Meet The Filmmakers 
Featuring:

Malaika Adero,  Shirikiana Aina, Walter Cade, Cheryl Chisholm, Francée Covington, Zeinabu Irene Davis, Manthia Diawara, John Colé Eaton, Nikky Finney, Haile Gerima, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Linda Janet Holmes, Alice Lovelace, Acklyn Lynch, Makeba Lavan, Louis Massiah, Toni Morrison, Frances Negrón Muntaner, Conor Tomás Reed, Judy Ridenhour, Susan Ross, Sonia Sanchez, Aishah Shahidah Simmons, Holly Smith, Karma Bene Smith, Clyde Taylor, Eleanor Traylor, Laura Whitehorn

What They’re Saying

On the thirtieth anniversary of her death, Louis Massiah has conjured the great Toni Cade Bambara back to life. Through archival footage and personal testimonies—most notably and eloquently by her friend, editor, and champion, Toni Morrison—this formidable writer and warrior for social justice blazes back into consciousness. There was simply nobody else like her. 

TCB - The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing offers a tonic for today’s woes and a lesson in joyousness for today’s challenges. With its propulsive jazz soundtrack and knowledge of history, Massiah’s film feeds a bone-deep hunger for inspiration.

---B. Ruby Rich

Scholar, Member Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Festival consultant

The Crew

  • Producer/Director *Louis Massiah

  • Editor/Director *Monica Henriquez

  • Camera *Michael Chin, Henry Adebonojo

  • Sound *JT Takagi

  • Music Supervisor *Jerome Jennings

  • Design/Motion Graphics *Gabriel Coffey

  • Archival Producers *Malkia Lydia, Steven Fullwood

  • Associate Producer *Karma B. Smith

  • Archival Research *Damion DeShield

  • Animators & Designers *Emily Delp Poppa, Gabrielle Patterson, Austin Dean, Marcos Schneider

  • Archive & Post Production Manager *Daniel Papa

  • Fiscal Sponsorship *Scribe Video Center

  • Fiscal Sponsorship Manager *Alexia Chororos

  • Online Post Production Services *Noodle Factory Post

  • Post Production Supervisor *Harrison Freedman

  • Post Production Sound *IMRSV Sound

Toni Cade Bambara writer and filmmaker

About Toni
Cade Bambara

Toni Cade Bambara (1939–1995) was a writer, documentary filmmaker, and activist whose groundbreaking works, including The Black Woman (1970), Gorilla, My Love (1972), and The Salt Eaters (1980), helped define the Black Arts and feminist movements. Her life’s work continues to shape contemporary thought on art, education, and liberation.

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