| Mandrika Rupa | |
| Birth Place: | Gujarat, India |
| Known For: | Filmmaker |
Mandrika Rupa is an Indian- New Zealand filmmaker and community worker.[1] She is a member of The Kshetra Collective, a diverse group of artists in New Zealand of Indian heritage.[2]
Rupa was born in Gujarat, India and moved to New Zealand in 1960. Rupa's grandfather, Jaga Rupa, emigrated to New Zealand in 1907 just after immigration restrictions targeted at Chinese and Indians were lifted.[3] Jaga Rupa settled in the Waikato and became a hawker. Rupa has six siblings who were all born in New Zealand and one born in India. In 1981 Rupa's daughter Mandy Rupa-Reid was born.
Between 1986 and1988 Rupa gained a qualification in social work.
In 1993 Rupa founded Nari Shakti, a platform for Indian women to empower one another, their communities and promote economic independence.[4] [5]
A trip to India in 1993 prompted Rupa's journey into filmmaking. Much of Rupa's film work explores the social implications of immigrant communities, the experiences of the South Asian diaspora and giving visibility to underrepresented voices.
| Against Her Will | 2007 | Pre-production | Documentary about domestic violence in the West | ||
| Inheritance/ A lament | 2006 | Te reo Māori, Punjabi, English subtitles | |||
| Hidden Apartheid | 2005 | Director & Producer | Documentary on the caste system in India and discrimination in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and New Zealand.[6] | ||
| Taamara/Sangam (The Joining of Two Peoples) | 2004 | Director & Writer | Accounts from Māori of the story of a group of Indian men settled in Te Uku in the early 1900s. | Te reo Māori, Hindi | |
| Laxmi | 1998 | Director & Writer | Life in colonial New Zealand through an Indian diasporic lens. | English | |
| Naya Zamana | 1996 | Director & Producer | A documentary about queer experiences in a family of South Pacific Indian heritage. | Hindi | |
| Poonam | 1994 | Director & Writer | Documentary about three Indian women who migrated with their families to New Zealand around the 1890s.[7] | ||
| I'm Not Here | 1994 | Director | English |