Nina Menkes

“For me, cinema is sorcery, a creative way to interact with the world in order to rearrange perception and expand consciousness, both the viewers and my own” --Nina Called “Brilliant, one of the most provocative artists in film today” by The... [more]

“For me, cinema is sorcery, a creative way to interact with the world in order to rearrange perception and expand consciousness, both the viewers and my own” --Nina Called “Brilliant, one of the most provocative artists in film today” by The Los Angeles Times, Nina Menkes synthesizes inner dream-worlds with harsh, outer realities. Her six features are a body of work Sight and Sound has called “Controversial, intense and visually stunning.” Menkes’s films have shown widely in major international film festivals including Sundance, Rotterdam, Locarno, London, Viennale, San Francisco, Berlin, Cairo, 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, MOCA and LACMA in Los Angeles. Menkes’ many honors include 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. In addition, her work has been listed on many periodicals “Top Ten Films of the Year” lists, including Film Comment and, repeatedly, The Los Angeles Times. Her feature length, experimental documentary shot in Beirut, Lebanon, MASSAKER, about the Sabra and Shatilla massacre, premiered at the Berlinale in 2005 and received a FIPRESCI Award. Menkes’ latest feature film—the award-winning black and white drama PHANTOM LOVE, premiered at Sundance 2007 to critical raves, and has continued to show world-wide to great acclaim. Menkes’s new feature script, HEATSTROKE, Executive produced by Gus Van Sant and Mark Romanek. is set in Los Angeles and Cairo, Egypt. HEATSTROKE won a Media Arts Award from the Rockefeller Foundation. Menkes’ work shows theatrically, and has also been broadcast on PBS, the Sundance Channel, as well as on WDR German Television and other foreign networks. Retrospectives of her work have shown in Los Angeles and most European capitals. Nina Menkes has an MFA with high honors 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)—India’s premiere film academy. She is currently a faculty member at California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles, and is a member of the Directors Guild of America. http://www.ninamenkes.com List of Work: PHANTOM LOVE (2007) 35mm/B&W/85 minutes MASSAKER(2005)** DV to 35mm/98 min THE CRAZY BLOODY FEMALE CENTER (2000) CD-ROM/3 hrs. playing time THE BLOODY CHILD (1996) 35mm film/ 86 minutes QUEEN OF DIAMONDS (1991) 35mm film/77 minutes MAGDALENA VIRAGA (1986) 16mm film/90 minutes THE GREAT SADNESS OF ZOHARA(1983) 16mm film/40 minutes A SOFT WARRIOR (1981) S-8 film/11 minutes (**director of photography and co-director) SOME NOTABLE PRESS QUOTES: PHANTOM LOVE “STANLEY KUBRICK'S CONFIDENT STATEMENT “IF IT CAN BE WRITTEN OR THOUGHT, IT CAN BE FILMED” RECEIVES STUNNING CONFIRMATION IN PHANTOM LOVE… NOT SINCE BELA TARR'S WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES HAS BLACK-AND-WHITE LOOKED SO STUNNING AND MESMERIZING…RADICAL AND BEAUTIFUL, PURE CINEMA!” - ROBERT KOEHLER, VARIETY “PHANTOM LOVE, BY NINA MENKES, ONE OF LOS ANGELES'S LEADING INDEPENDENT FILM ARTISTS, MAKES IT’S NEW YORK PREMIERE AT MOMA… HER RICHLY NUANCED FILMS ARE DISTINGUISHED BY LUMINOUS, SURREAL, AND OFTEN DISTURBING IMAGERY, AND ACCOMPANIED BY SOUNDTRACKS THAT ARE CAREFULLY MODULATED TO SUGGEST THE SIMULTANEITY OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND OUTSIDE WORLDS.” - LAURENCE KARDISH, CURATOR MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NYC; DEPARTMENT OF FILM "POTENT AND LUMINOUS! A SEDUCTIVELY POWERFUL VISION...MENKES IS ONE OF THE MOST PROVOCATIVE ARTISTS IN FILM TODAY!" - KEVIN THOMAS, LOS ANGELES TIMES “EVOCATIVE, CHALLENGING AND VERY REWARDING, PHANTOM LOVE GRIPPED ME WITH SUCH INTENSITY I PROBABLY WOULD HAVE JUMPED IF A PIN HAD FALLEN. AMONG THE WELTER OF FILMS I AM WATCHING IN THE COURSE OF THE EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, IT IS THE IMAGES FROM PHANTOM LOVE THAT CONTINUALLY HAUNT ME. PHANTOM LOVE IS THE SORT OF WORK THAT KEEPS CINEMA ALIVE”. - CHRIS DOCKER, EYE FOR FILM "WITH PHANTOM LOVE, NINA MENKES ADDS ANOTHER MASTERWORK TO HER EXTRAORDINARY OEUVRE. ITS STORY OF A WOMAN'S TRAUMA AND HEALING IS TOLD WITH A VIRTUOSIC USE OF FUNDAMENTAL FILM TECHNIQUES: BLACK AND WHITE 35MM PHOTOGRAPHY, EXQUISITE FRAMING, AND RESONANT SOUND DESIGN. IT IS A TRIUMPH OF VISUAL INTELLIGENCE AND AESTHETIC INTEGRITY. " - DAVID E. JAMES, AUTHOR: THE MOST TYPICAL AVANT-GARDE, A HISTORY OF MINOR CINEMA IN LOS ANGELES “OUTSTANDING BLACK AND WHITE CINEMATOGRAPHY, COMPELLING NARRATIVE STRUCTURE AND EXTRAORDINARY USE OF SOUNDS CREATES A SURREAL ATMOSPHERE OFFERING ACCESS TO DEEPER LEVELS OF REALITY.” --JURY STATEMENT- BEST ARTISTIC ACHEIVEMENT AWARD, BANGKOK WORLD FILM FESTIVAL MASSAKER WINNER, FIPRESCI AWARD, BERLIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL "…LEADS ITS AUDIENCE IN AN INEVITABLE CLAUSTROPHOBIC EXPERIENCE WITH ITS EXTREME CONCENTRATION ON THE LANGUAGE OF MURDERERS. THE FILM SHOWS IN AN OPPRESSIVE WAY HOW PEOPLE LOSE ALL HUMAN, MORAL AND ETHICAL CONSTRAINT UNDER TERRIBLE CIRCUMSTANCES OF CIVIL WAR." --BERLINALE JURY STATEMENT THE BLOODY CHILD “ONE OF THE YEAR’S GREATEST FILMS FROM ONE OF MY FAVORITE FILMMAKERS!” --Gus Van Sant “BRILLIANT!…AN AWE-INSPIRING, RIGOROUS WORK OF ART ON THE HIGHEST LEVEL. ONE OF THE YEAR’S TOP FIVE FILMS!” --Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times “MESMERIZING! WEAVES A SPELL THAT’S HARD TO SHAKE FOR DAYS, AND OFFERS AN OBJECT LESSON IN THE CINEMATIC POSSIBILITIES STANDARD NARRATIVE MISSES.” --Godfrey Cheshire, Variety “A NEW WAY OF STORY TELLING—DEFINITELY AMONG THE COOLEST FILMS I’VE SEEN.” --Andrea Sperling, Artforum “AN OBSESSIVE MEDITATION ON THE RAMPANT INFILTRATION OF VIOLENCE WITHIN THE AMERICAN LANDSCAPE…FASCINATING AND MYSTERIOUS.” --Berenice Reynaud, Cahiers du Cinema “INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED AS ONE OF OUR MOST PROVOCATIVE AND AUDACIOUS DIRECTORS, NINA MENKES CONTINUES HER DEDICATION IN THE BLOODY CHILD TO EXPAND THE CINEMATIC FORM.” --John Cooper, Programmer, Sundance Film Festival “THE BLOODY CHILD TAPS INTO SOMETHING CENTRAL AND IRREDUCIBLE ABOUT THE PERVASIVE ROLE OF VIOLENCE IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN CULTURE THAT NO OTHER PICTURE GETS AT—SOMETHING AT ONCE CHILLING AND CLARIFYING—THE MENKES SISTERS HAVE ALLOWED US TO LOOK INTO AN ABYSS… A MUST SEE!” --Jonathan Rosenbaum, The Chicago Reader QUEEN OF DIAMONDS “QUEEN OF DIAMONDS, THE LATEST JEWEL IN THE CROWN OF INDEPENDENT FILMMAKER NINA MENKES, MAY BECOME FOR AMERICAN IN THE ‘90’S WHAT JEANNE DIELMAN WAS FOR EUROPE IN THE 70’S—A CULT CLASSIC USING A RIGOROUS VISUAL COMPOSITION TO PENETRATE THE INNERMOST RECESSES OF THE SOUL.” --The Chicago Reader “THE FILM’S POWER STEMS FROM THE PALPABLE AURA OF REPRESSED RAGE AND DESPAIR WHICH TINKA MENKES GIVES THE MAIN CHARACTER. HER PORTRAYAL IS SPHINX-LIKE, SLOW, WEIGHTED, LIKE A WOUNDED BUT STILL DANGEROUS ANIMAL. ONE OF THE THREE BEST FILMS AT SUNDANCE.” --Atlanta Art Papers “DEFIES CONVENTION BODLY AND MASTERFULLY…INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED AS ONE OF THE US’ MOST CHALLENGING FILMMAKERS, MENKES FINDS IMAGES WHICH STICK IN THE MIND AND GAIN POWER AS ONE DWELLS ON THEM.” --Daily Variety “ONE OF THE FOREMOST AVANTE-GARDE FILMMAKERS IN THE WORLD.” --Ken Wlaschin, Director, AFI International Film Festival “TAXING, SHIMMERING, HYPNOTIC, QUEEN OF DIAMONDS DEMANDS BEING SEEN MORE THAN ONCE TO FULLY ABSORB ITS BEAUTY AND MEANING—ONE OF THE YEAR’S TOP TWO FILMS.” --Los Angeles Times “MASTERFULLY SHOT, THIS LOWER THAN LOW BUDGET FILM IN STUNNING 35MM COLOR IS A DECLARATION OF MENKES’ PERSERVERANCE AS A TOTALLY INDEPENDENT FILMMAKER WITH A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF INTEGRITY AND ORIGINALITY.” --Alberto Garcia, Programmer,Sundance Film Festival “RAVISHING, HALLUCINATORY…WITH QUEEN OF DIAMONDS MENKES ONCE AGAIN PROVES HERSELF ONE OF THE MORE COMPELLING VOICES IN AMERICAN FILM, AN EVOCATIVE CINE-POET BOLDLY PURSUING A SINGULAR AND HIGHLY PERSONAL VISION…A STIMULATING, PROVOCATIVE WORK.” --Ray Greene, Editor, Box Office Magazine MAGDALENA VIRAGA WINNER BEST INDEPENDENT FILM LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION “I HAVE NOT BEEN SO MOVED BY A FILM SINCE WATCHING TARKOVSKY.”-- --RADIO FRANCE CULTURE “BOLDLY IMAGINATIVE—MENKES CAN HOLD A SHOT AS LONG AS ANTONIONI AND GET AWAY WITH IT— MAGDALENA VIRAGA IS A STUNNER!” --LOS ANGELES TIMES “IS AMERICAN UNDERGROUND CINEMA DEAD? PROOF THAT IT IS NOT—MAGDALENA VIRAGA, NINA MENKES’ FIRST FEATURE—SENSUALLY EXISTENTIALIST.” --LIBERATION “POWERFUL, EXTRAORDINARY, MENKES DOES NOT COMPROMISE IN GIVING FORM TO HER DISTURBING VISIONS.” --LOS ANGELES READER “A DREAMLIKE BLEND OF BROTHEL, PRISON CELL, AND BAROQUE CATHEDRAL—THE BIAS IS METAPHYSICAL, MENSTRUAL BLOOD TRANSUBSTANTIATED INTO THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB.” --VILLAGE VOICE “ASPIRES TO A NEW FORM OF CINEMA” --LE MONDE THE GREAT SADNESS OF ZOHARA "THIS HIGHLY SENSUAL, RICHLY TEXTURED FILM OF STRIKING IMAGES CREATES A POWERFUL SENSE OF TIMELESSNESS." --Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times "WHILE ALL CINEMATIC ENDEAVORS ARE INEVITABLY ABOUT MANIPULATION, MENKES' WORK MANIPULATES IN A SOPHISTICATED, SUBTLE AND PERHAPS MYSTICAL WAY. THE MYSTICISM EVOKED BY MENKES CAN ALSO BE FOUND IN MAYA DEREN'S WORK; BOTH ARTISTS USE THE TOOLS OF CINEMA TO SCULPT NEW FORMS OF NARRATIVE. THEIR FILMS ARE NOT FORMAL EXERCISES IN REDUCTIVISM, BUT SPIRITUAL EXERCISES-- MANTRAS GUIDING US TOWARDS A NEW LANGUAGE—OR PERHAPS OUTSIDE OF LANGUAGE." --Eric Freedman, FILMMAKER MAGAZINE " ALARMING, ARRESTING, POWERFUL...BRAVE AND REMARKABLE....RISKS ALOT, BEAUTIFUL!" --San Francisco International Film Festival Jurors "IN A PARTICULARLY MEMORABLE SEQUENCE ACTRESS TINKA MENKES GRABS A PAIR OF LARGE, CRUDE SCISSORS AND CROPS HER HAIR TO JAGGED PIECES--AN ACT SO VISUALLY AND MENTALLY DISTURBING THAT THE AUDIENCE FELT AND SHARED HER GRIEF DEEPLY...NINA MENKES IS AN INSPIRATIONAL BREATH NOT ONLY FOR WOMEN FILMMAKERS BUT FOR ALL CREATIVE INDIVIDUALS OPPRESSED BY ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL SITUATIONS WHO QUESTION THEIR PLACE AND IDENTITY TO SOCIETY AND TO THEMSELVES....AN EXQUISITE VISUAL ESSAY" --Dylan Tran, HIGH PERFORMANCE “MENKES SHOT THIS GLORIOUSLY MOODY FILM HERSELF AND ACTED AS HER ONLY CREW WITH ACTRESS/SISTER TINKA MENKES CAPTIVATING AS A YOUNG WOMAN SEARCHING FOR SPIRITUAL CONNECTION IN AN ALIEN MALE WORLD. SOME OF CINEMA’S MOST INSANELY BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPES —ONE OF THE DECADE’S BEST FILMS!” --Director Allison Anders "THE MOST BELIEVABLE IMAGES OF LIFE IN EXILE WERE FOUND WITH TINKA MENKES IN THE GREAT SADNESS OF ZOHARA, ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FILMS OF THE (MANNHEIM INTERNATIONAL FILM) FESTIVAL, THE JOURNEY OF AN AMERICAN JEWESS THROUGH ISRAEL--SCENES OF DISORIENTATION, SO QUIET AND CONCENTRATED THAT SUDDENLY A RETURN SEEMS POSSIBLE..." --Manfred Etten, Mannheim Int’l Film Festival. [show less]