Nina Menkes
Encyclopedia
Nina Menkes is a woman filmmaker who has completed six feature films in which she controlled all aspects of production, including directing, writing, shooting, as well as editing picture and sound on her own productions. She has worked in various media including Super-8, 16mm, 35mm and lately HD
. Her films have often met with hostility, as she confronts and expresses violence in an unusual way, creating and following her own cinematic rules.
According to film critic and historian Berenice Reynaud:
For many years, Menkes worked closely with her sister Tinka Menkes, who was both her actress and creative collaborator. Their films were featured in major international film festivals including Sundance
, Rotterdam, Locarno
, London
, Viennale
, San Francisco, Edinburgh
, Cairo
and Toronto
as well as at La Cinematheque Francaise, The British Film Institute
, the ICA in London, the Beijing Film Academy
in China, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, LACMA and MOCA in Los Angeles. Menkes was one of the first women to present a feature film at the Sundance Film Festival (Queen of Diamonds 1990 in dramatic competition). She has received a Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, two Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, an Annenberg Foundation Independent Media Grant, an American Film Institute Independent Filmmaker Award, three Western States Regional Media Arts Fellowships and two Senior Fulbright Research Awards—one to the Middle East/North Africa, and one to India. Menkes was also a recipient of a DAAD Artist in Residence in Berlin Award, during which she tried to face her family history. Her mother's family were German Jews who fled Hitler's genocide; her father's Austrian Jewish family were gassed to death. In 2002 Menkes shot and co-created a feature length, experimental documentary in Beirut, Lebanon, Massaker, about the Sabra and Shatila massacre
, which premiered at the Berlinale in 2005 and received a FIPRESCI Award.
Her most recent film Dissolution (2010), shot in Tel Aviv
in Hebrew (with some Arabic) marked her first collaboration with the Israeli David Fire, a musician and philosopher, who played the lead role as well as collaborated with Menkes on writing and editing. Menkes holds citizenship in Germany, USA and Israel.
Nina Menkes has an MFA from the UCLA Film School. She has taught film directing at the USC film school, and at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).She is member of the Directors Guild of America, and is currently a faculty member at California institute of the Arts
HD
HD may refer to:- Science and technology :* High-definition, reference to:** high-definition video** high-definition television ** Intel High Definition Audio** HD Voice...
. Her films have often met with hostility, as she confronts and expresses violence in an unusual way, creating and following her own cinematic rules.
According to film critic and historian Berenice Reynaud:
"[Menkes] does not inscribe herself in a recognizable avant-garde tradition, she has no master and no disciples, which forces her to reinvent the history of cinema in her own terms, to struggle alone with formal and conceptual issues. This loneliness – both æsthetic and economic – is also embedded in the texture of the work. Yet, it is not the cliché loneliness of the romantic victim – it is more akin to the “night of the soul” evoked by the mystics, Dante’s travel though a dark wood – or the heroic solitude of the knight-errant."
For many years, Menkes worked closely with her sister Tinka Menkes, who was both her actress and creative collaborator. Their films were featured in major international film festivals including Sundance
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
, Rotterdam, Locarno
Locarno International Film Festival
The Film Festival Locarno is an international film festival held annually in the city of Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. After Cannes and Venice and together with Karlovy Vary, Locarno is the Film Festival with the longest history...
, London
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...
, Viennale
Viennale
The Vienna International Film Festival, or Viennale, is a film festival taking place every October since 1960 in Vienna, Austria.The average number of visitors is about 75,000. Traditional cinema venues are Gartenbaukino, Urania, Metro-Kino, Filmmuseum and Stadtkino...
, San Francisco, Edinburgh
Edinburgh International Film Festival
The Edinburgh International Film Festival is an annual fortnight of cinema screenings and related events taking place each June. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival...
, Cairo
Cairo International Film Festival
The Cairo International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Cairo, Egypt. It was established in 1976 and was the first international film festival held in the Arab world...
and Toronto
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
as well as at La Cinematheque Francaise, The British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
, the ICA in London, the Beijing Film Academy
Beijing Film Academy
Beijing Film Academy is a coeducational state-run higher education institution in Beijing, China. The film school is the largest institution specialised in the tertiary education for film and television production in Asia...
in China, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, LACMA and MOCA in Los Angeles. Menkes was one of the first women to present a feature film at the Sundance Film Festival (Queen of Diamonds 1990 in dramatic competition). She has received a Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, two Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, an Annenberg Foundation Independent Media Grant, an American Film Institute Independent Filmmaker Award, three Western States Regional Media Arts Fellowships and two Senior Fulbright Research Awards—one to the Middle East/North Africa, and one to India. Menkes was also a recipient of a DAAD Artist in Residence in Berlin Award, during which she tried to face her family history. Her mother's family were German Jews who fled Hitler's genocide; her father's Austrian Jewish family were gassed to death. In 2002 Menkes shot and co-created a feature length, experimental documentary in Beirut, Lebanon, Massaker, about the Sabra and Shatila massacre
Sabra and Shatila massacre
The Sabra and Shatila massacre took place in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut, Lebanon between September 16 and September 18, 1982, during the Lebanese civil war. Palestinian and Lebanese civilians were massacred in the camps by Christian Lebanese Phalangists while the camp...
, which premiered at the Berlinale in 2005 and received a FIPRESCI Award.
Her most recent film Dissolution (2010), shot in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
in Hebrew (with some Arabic) marked her first collaboration with the Israeli David Fire, a musician and philosopher, who played the lead role as well as collaborated with Menkes on writing and editing. Menkes holds citizenship in Germany, USA and Israel.
Nina Menkes has an MFA from the UCLA Film School. She has taught film directing at the USC film school, and at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).She is member of the Directors Guild of America, and is currently a faculty member at California institute of the Arts
Filmography
- Dissolution (2010) 88 min/B&W/16:9 HD PAL
- Phantom Love (2007) 35mm film/87 minutes
- Massaker (2005) (co-director/director of photography) DV to 35mm/98 minutes
- The Crazy Bloody Female Centre (2000) CD-ROM/180 minutes
- The Bloody Child (1996) 35mm film/ 86 minutes
- Queen of Diamonds (1991) 35mm film/77 minutes
- Magdalena Viagra (1986) 16mm film/90 minutes
- The Great Sadness of Zohara (1983) 16mm film/40 minutes
- A Soft Warrior (1981) S-8 film/11 minutes