Pratibha Parmar Explained

Birth Place:	Nairobi, Kenya
Alma Mater:	University of Bradford University of Birmingham
Occupation:	Writer and filmmaker
Notable Works:	(2014); My Name is Andrea (2022)

Pratibha Parmar is a British writer and filmmaker. She has made feminist documentaries such as (2014) and My Name is Andrea (2022) about Andrea Dworkin.

Early life

Parmar was born in Nairobi, Kenya, to Indian parents and when she was 12 her family moved to the United Kingdom.^{[1] [2]} She received a B.A. degree from Bradford University and attended Birmingham University for postgraduate studies. Parmar's feminism was influenced by writers such as Angela Davis, June Jordan, Cherrie Moraga, Barbara Smith and Alice Walker.^[3]

Career

With her 1991 film Khush, Parmar examined the erotic world of South Asian lesbians and gay men in the United Kingdom and India, using a mix of documentary footage and dramatic scenes.^[4]

The documentary Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth (2014) is about the life of author and activist Alice Walker, whom Parmar had first met in 1991 via June Jordan and Angela Davis. Walker and Parmar also collaborated on Warrior Marks, a documentary about female genital mutilation.^{[5] [6]} They then released a book, also entitled Warrior Marks (1993).^[7]

In 2022, Parmar released her documentary My Name is Andrea about the second-wave feminist and writer Andrea Dworkin.^[8]

Parmar has also made music videos for Morcheeba, Tori Amos and Midge Ure.

Awards and recognition

Parmar won the 1993 Frameline Award at the Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco and her films have won various prizes. In 2016, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.^[9]

Selected works

Film

• Khush (1991)
• A Place of Rage (1991)
• Nina's Heavenly Delights (2006)
• (2014)
• My Name is Andrea (2022)

Writing

• Pocket Sized Venus in Femmes of Power: Exploding Queer Femininities, Del LaGrace Volcano and Ulrika Dahl. Serpent's Tail, 2008.
• Warrior Marks: Female Genital Mutilation and the Sexual Blinding of Women. Co-author with Alice Walker. Harcourt Brace in the U.S. and Jonathan Cape in the U.K, November 1993.
• Queer Looks: An Anthology of Writings about Lesbian and Gay Media. Co-edited with Martha Gever & John Greyson. Routledge, New York & London, October 1993.
• "Perverse Politics", in Feminist Review, No 34, 1991.
• "Challenging Imperial Feminism with Valerie Amos", in Feminist Review (1984) and reprinted several times in various publications and anthologies including Feminism & Race. Oxford University Press, 2000.

See also

• List of female film and television directors
• List of lesbian filmmakers
• List of LGBT-related films directed by women

Further reading

• Book: Tyrkus . Michael . Gay & Lesbian Biography . 1997 . St. James Press . Detroit . 9781558622371 . 355–357 . 22 March 2019 .
• Gwendolyn Audrey Foster, Women Filmmakers of the African and Asian Diaspora. Southern Illinois University Press, 1997.
• Looking For The Other. Feminism, Film and the Imperial Gaze. Chapter 6: "Can One Know the Other?” The Ambivalence of Postcolonialism in Chocolat, Warrior Marks, and Mississippi Masala." E. Ann Kaplan. Routledge, 1997.
• Alpana Sharma Knippling, "Self (En)Gendered in Ideology: Pratibha Parmar's Bhangra Jig and Sari Red", in JPCS: Journal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture & Society, Volume 1 (No 2), Fall 1996.
• Film Fatales: Independent Women Directors. Eds. Judith M. Redding & Victoria A. Brownworth. Seal Press, 1997.

External links

• Pratibha Parmar website
  • Pratibha Parmar at Women Make Movies
• Marjorie Baumgarten, "Two by Pratibha Parmar: A Place of Rage, Khush" (review), The Austin Chronicle, 21 February 1992.
• Louise Carolin, "INTERVIEW/VIDEO: PRATIBHA PARMAR ON HER FILM ABOUT AMERICAN ICON ALICE WALKER", Diva, 19 March 2012.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Pratibha Parmar . Pratibha Parmar . 3 November 2022.
2. Web site: Pratibha Parmar. kalifilms.com . 13 June 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070531111651/http://www.kalifilms.com/htmlfiles/biog.html . 31 May 2007.
3. Web site: In Conversation With Pratibha Parmar . https://web.archive.org/web/20121116161932/http://www.lokvani.com/lokvani/article.php?article_id=4085 . usurped . 16 November 2012 . Lokvani . 3 November 2022.
4. Book: Kaplan . E. Ann . Looking for the Other: Feminism, Film and the Imperial Gaze . 2012 . Routledge . 978-1-135-20875-2 . 283 . en.
5. News: Simmons . Aisha Shahidah . Alice Walker: Beauty In Truth – Ms. Magazine . 3 November 2022 . msmagazine.com . 25 October 2011.
6. News: Movies: About Warrior Marks. https://web.archive.org/web/20080315004350/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/228101/Warrior-Marks/overview . dead . 15 March 2008 . Peter M. . Nichols . 22 May 2010 . Movies & TV Dept. . . 2008 .
7. Book: McCoy . Frank . Black Enterprise . 1994 . Earl G. Graves, Ltd. . 103 . https://books.google.com/books?id=_lwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA103 . en . Hearing Women's Cries.
8. News: Linden . Sheri . 'My Name Is Andrea': Film Review Tribeca 2022 . 3 November 2022 . The Hollywood Reporter . 11 June 2022.
9. News: BBC 100 Women 2016: Who is on the list?. 21 November 2016. BBC News. 28 July 2019. en-GB.