Nina Menkes is an independent filmmaker. Her films include ''The Great Sadness of Zohara'' (1983), ''Magdalena Viraga'' (1986), ''

Queen of Diamonds The queen of diamonds is a playing card in the standard 52-card deck. Queen of Diamonds may also refer to: Arts and entertainment *'' Karyssia: Queen of Diamonds'', a 1987 graphic adventure game *the title character of "Marsha, Queen of Diamonds ...

'' (1991), ''The Bloody Child'' (1996), "Massacre (Massaker)" (2005), ''Phantom Love'' (2007), ''Dissolution'' (2010), and ''Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power'' (2022). ''Dissolution'' (2010) was filmed in

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

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 Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-largest city by population in Los Angeles County, the 17th ...

. She has donated copies of several of her works to the Academy Film Archive.

Life

Menkes was born in

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...

to European Jewish parents who fled Nazi persecution as children. She was raised in Berkeley, California. In 1977, she took a BA from the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

, and in 1987 completed a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

at the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. From 1985 to 1989 she taught in the film department of

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. With a total enrollment of 38,551 students (as of Fall 2021), it has the second largest un ...

, and then, from 1990, at the California Institute of the Arts in Santa Clarita; she became an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

in film at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

in the same year.

Work

Films by Menkes include: * ''A Soft Warrior'', 1981, an eleven-minute short * ''The Great Sadness of Zohara'', 1983, which was first shown at the Melnitz Theatre of the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1984, and later in the same year at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and the

Mannheim International Film Festival The Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival (german: Internationales Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg), often referred to by the German-language initialism IFFMH, is an annual film festival established in 1952 hosted jointly by the citi ...

; also in 1984, it was awarded a special jury prize at the San Francisco International Film Festival and a silver medal at the Houston International Film Festival * ''Magdalena Viraga'', 1986, had its première at Film and Television Archives of the University of California, Los Angeles, and won the Best Independent-Experimental Film Award of the

Los Angeles Film Critics Association The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) is an American film critic organization founded in 1975. Background Its membership comprises film critics from Los Angeles-based print and electronic media. In December of each year, the organiza ...

; it was shown at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

in both 1986 and 1987, and at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

and the

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition in ...

in 1987. * ''

'', 1990, had its first showing in January 1991 at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

Park City, Utah Park City is a city in Utah, United States. The vast majority is in Summit County, and it extends into Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City' ...

, and in 1992 was shown at the

Munich International Film Festival Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. Tinka Menkes plays a croupier in a casino in the desert. It was

restored ''Restored'' is the fourth studio album by American contemporary Christian music musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004 by BEC Recordings. Track listing Standard release Enhanced edition Deluxe gold edition Standard ...

by The Film Foundation and the Academy Film Archive in 2018, and was shown at the AFI Fest in November of that year. * ''The Bloody Child'', 1996, was based on a murder; it was the last film Menkes and her sister Tinka made together, and the last film she made for about ten years. * ''Massacre'' (''Massaker''), 2005: camera, with co-directors Monika Borgmann,

Lokman Slim Lokman Mohsen Slim (; 17 July 1962 – 4 February 2021) was a Lebanese Shiite publisher, political activist and commentator, who promoted a Culture of Remembrance to cope with the many past and present conflicts of Lebanon and the whole region. ...

Hermann Theissen Hermann or Herrmann may refer to: * Hermann (name), list of people with this name * Arminius, chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci tribe in the 1st century, known as Hermann in the German language * Éditions Hermann, French publisher * Hermann, Miss ...

* ''Phantom Love'', 2007 * ''Dissolution'' (''Hitparkut''), 2010, was filmed in

and is set in Israel. * ''Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power'' (2022), is a documentary on the gendered nature of film language, including interviews with filmmakers and activists such as

Catherine Hardwicke Helen Catherine HardwickeAccording to the State of Texas. ''Texas Birth Index, 1903–1997''. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. (born October 21, 1955) is an American film director, p ...

, Eliza Hittman,

Joey Soloway Joey Soloway (previously Jill Soloway; born September 26, 1965) is an American television creator, showrunner, director and writer. Soloway is known for creating, writing, executive producing and directing the Amazon original series ''Transparent' ...

, Julie Dash, Laura Mulvey, Penelope Spheeris, and

Maria Giese Maria Giese is an American feature film director and screenwriter. A member of the Directors Guild of America, and an activist for parity for women directors in Hollywood, she writes and lectures about the under-representation of women filmmak ...

. 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 The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

and the

. She built upon this work in creating ''Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power'' (2022). ''Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power'' premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and has been shown at Berlinale CPH:DOX, JEONJU International Film Festival, and Beldocs International Film Festival It is also scheduled for the Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival.

Reception

Menkes became a

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the American Film Institute in 1991. She received a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

in 1992, and in 1993 was an

artist-in-residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

under the

DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program The DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program (German: Berliner Künstlerprogramm des DAAD) is a residential program for artists of all countries and ages run by the German Academic Exchange Service (German: ‘Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst', DAAD ...

. She has been nominated for a number of awards, and has won: * 1986, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Independent/Experimental Film and Video Award for ''Magdalena Viraga'' * 2005, Berlin International Film Festival, FIPRESCI Prize for Panorama for ''Massaker'' * 2007,

World Film Festival of Bangkok The World Film Festival of Bangkok ( th, เทศกาลภาพยนตร์โลกแห่งกรุงเทพฯ) is an annual international film festival held in Bangkok, Thailand. The 15th World Film Festival of Bangkok, the la ...

, Special Jury Prize for ''Phantom Love'' * 2010, Jerusalem Film Festival, Anat Pirchi Award for Best Drama for ''Hitparkut''. * 2019, a lifetime achievement award at the

Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata The Mar del Plata International Film Festival ( es, Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata) is an international film festival that takes place every November in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina. It is the only competitive feature fes ...

, where a complete retrospective of her work was also shown. Two of Menkes' films—''Magdalena Viraga'' and ''Queen of Diamonds''—have been preserved by the Academy Film Archive, in 2012 and 2019, respectively.

Life

Work

Reception

References

Further reading