Nina Menkes

For the German boxer, see Nina Meinke.

Nina Menkes in a 2022 interview

Nina Menkes is an independent filmmaker.[1]: 202 [2]: 82  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 Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power (2022). Dissolution (2010) was filmed in black and white and is set in Israel.[3][4] Nina Menkes' sister Tinka appears as an actress in many of them.[3] Menkes teaches at the California Institute of the Arts in Santa Clarita, California.[3] She has donated copies of several of her works to the Academy Film Archive.[5]

Life

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Menkes was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan[2]: 82  to European Jewish parents who fled Nazi persecution as children. She was raised in Berkeley, California.[6] In 1977, she completed a BA from the University of California at Berkeley,[1]: 202  and in 1987 completed a Master of Fine Arts at the University of California at Los Angeles.[2]: 82  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.[2]: 82 

Work

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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.[12] She built upon this work in creating Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power (2022).[13][14] Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power premiered at the Sundance Film Festival,[11][15] and has been shown at Berlinale[13] CPH:DOX,[16] JEONJU International Film Festival,[17] and Beldocs International Film Festival[18] It is also scheduled for the Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival.[19]

Reception

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Menkes became a fellow of the American Film Institute in 1991. She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1992,[2]: 82 [20] and in 1993 was an artist-in-residence in Berlin under the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program.[2]: 82 

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.[23]

References

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  1. ^ a b Richard Armstrong, Richard Marshall, Lisa Phillips, John G. Hanhardt (1987). Biennial 1987. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art; New York, London: W. W. Norton Company. ISBN 9780393304398.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Menkes, Nina. Appointed for film making". In: Elizabeth M. Gurl (editor) (1993). Reports of the President and of the Treasurer: 1992. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Dennis Lim (17 February 2012). "Retrospectives of the Filmmaker Nina Menkes". The New York Times.
  4. ^ a b Jeannette Catsoulis (8 March 2012). Immersed in Anger and Smothered by Loneliness: ‘Dissolution,’ a Film Set in Israel by Nina Menkes. The New York Times. Archived 13 March 2012.
  5. ^ a b Nina Menkes Collection. Academy Film Archive. Accessed April 2020.
  6. ^ Resnick, Sarah. "Shadow Sides: The Spiritual Journeys of Nina Menkes". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  7. ^ a b AFI FEST Announces Cinema’s Legacy and Midnight Lineups. American Film Institute. Accessed May 2019.
  8. ^ "Massaker" (PDF).
  9. ^ a b Phil Coldiron (26 May 2011). Nina Menkes' Dissolution and Phantom Love. LA Weekly. Archived 23 June 2016.
  10. ^ Robert Koehler (22 January 2007). Review: 'Phantom Love'. Variety. Archived 18 August 2018.
  11. ^ a b Kleinmann, James (25 January 2022). "Sundance 2022 Film Review: Brainwashed Sex-Camera-Power ★★★★★". The Queer Review. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  12. ^ Sex and Power, the Visual Language of Oppression. American Film Institute. Accessed June 2019.
  13. ^ a b Luers, Erik (4 February 2022). ""120 Years of the Male Gaze On Our Backs": Nina Menkes on Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power | Filmmaker Magazine". Filmmaker Magazine | Publication with a focus on independent film, offering articles, links, and resources. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  14. ^ Rojas, Morgan (26 January 2022). "Sundance: 'Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power' Exposes the Male Gaze". Cinemacy. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  15. ^ Wintermayr, Arabella (2022). "Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power (2022) | Film, Trailer, Kritik". www.kino-zeit.de. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  16. ^ "Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power". cphdox. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  17. ^ "The 23rd JEONJU International Film Festival". JEONJU Intl. Film Festival. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  18. ^ "Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power". Beldocs. 15 April 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  19. ^ "Docaviv 2022 – Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival – Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival". www.docaviv.co.il. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  20. ^ Nina Menkes. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Accessed September 2018.
  21. ^ Rithdee, Kong (5 November 2007). "'Import/Export' wins Bangkok fest 'Phantom Love' wins for artistic achievement". Variety. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  22. ^ Nina Menkes: la mirada transformadora (in Spanish). Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata. Accessed April 2020.
  23. ^ "Preserved Projects". Academy Film Archive.

Further reading

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