Nina Menkes Explained

Nina Menkes is an independent filmmaker. Her films include The Great Sadness of Zohara (1983), Magdalena Viraga (1986), Queen of Diamonds (1991), The Bloody Child (1996), "Massacre (Massaker)" (2005), Phantom Love (2007), Dissolution (2010), and (2022). Dissolution (2010) was filmed in black and white and is set in Israel. Nina Menkes' sister Tinka appears as an actress in many of them. Menkes teaches at the California Institute of the Arts in Santa Clarita, California. She has donated copies of several of her works to the Academy Film Archive.

Life

Menkes was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan to European Jewish parents who fled Nazi persecution as children. She was raised in Berkeley, California.[1] In 1977, she completed a BA from the University of California at Berkeley, and in 1987 completed a Master of Fine Arts at the University of California at Los Angeles. From 1985 to 1989 she taught in the film department of California State University, Northridge, and then, from 1990, at the California Institute of the Arts in Santa Clarita; she became an adjunct professor in film at the University of Southern California in the same year.

Work

Films by Menkes include:

In 2018 Menkes presented an illustrated talk on "Sex and Power, the Visual Language of Oppression" in several venues, among them the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes and the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. She built upon this work in creating Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power (2022).[4] [5] Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power premiered at the Sundance Film Festival,[3] [6] and has been shown at Berlinale[4] CPH:DOX,[7] JEONJU International Film Festival,[8] and Beldocs International Film Festival[9] It is also scheduled for the Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival.[10]

Reception

Menkes became a fellow of the American Film Institute in 1991. She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1992, and in 1993 was an artist-in-residence in Berlin under the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program.

She has been nominated for a number of awards, and has won:

Two of Menkes' films—Magdalena Viraga and Queen of Diamonds—have been preserved by the Academy Film Archive, in 2012 and 2019, respectively.[12]

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Resnick. Sarah. Shadow Sides: The Spiritual Journeys of Nina Menkes. 2022-01-09. The Criterion Collection. en.
  2. Web site: Massaker.
  3. News: Kleinmann . James . Sundance 2022 Film Review: Brainwashed Sex-Camera-Power ★★★★★ . 15 May 2022 . The Queer Review . 25 January 2022.
  4. News: Luers . Erik . "120 Years of the Male Gaze On Our Backs": Nina Menkes on Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power Filmmaker Magazine . 15 May 2022 . Filmmaker Magazine Publication with a focus on independent film, offering articles, links, and resources. . 4 February 2022.
  5. News: Rojas . Morgan . Sundance: 'Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power' Exposes the Male Gaze . 15 May 2022 . Cinemacy . 26 January 2022.
  6. News: Wintermayr . Arabella . Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power (2022) Film, Trailer, Kritik . 15 May 2022 . www.kino-zeit.de . 2022.
  7. Web site: Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power . cphdox . 15 May 2022 . en.
  8. Web site: The 23rd JEONJU International Film Festival . JEONJU Intl. Film Festival . 15 May 2022.
  9. Web site: Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power . Beldocs . 15 May 2022 . 15 April 2022.
  10. Web site: Docaviv 2022 – Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival – Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival . www.docaviv.co.il . 15 May 2022.
  11. News: Rithdee. Kong. 'Import/Export' wins Bangkok fest 'Phantom Love' wins for artistic achievement. 31 January 2017. Variety. November 5, 2007.
  12. Web site: Preserved Projects. Academy Film Archive.