Nina Menkes (United States)

Nina Menkes is a Los Angeles-based feminist filmmaker, who blends mysticism, a powerful feminist sensibility, and a gift for composing beautiful and striking images to make complex, compelling experimental narratives that often explore the intersection between sexuality and violence. She has referred to her filmmaking as a kind of sorcery and the hallucinatory feeling of her films gives the impression that they truly have been conjured rather then written in any traditional sense. Indeed, her films never have writing credits. Menkes, who produces, directs, and shoots all of her films, instead credits herself and her sister Tinka Menkes as co-conceivers and co-editors. Tinka Menkes also stars in her sister’s films and her performances lend them a unique form of slow-burning intensity. Nina Menkes synthesizes inner dream-worlds with harsh, outer realities. She was one of the first women to present a feature film at the Sundance Film Festival. Considered a cinematic feminist pioneer and one of America’s foremost independent filmmakers, Menkes has shown widely in major international film festivals.