Directing

Nina Menkes

Born October 12, 1965 · California, USA (age 61)

Nina Menkes graduated with an MFA in film production from UCLA in 1989, has received Fulbright Research Awards to the Middle East and is a member of the film faculty at the California Institute of the Arts. Her films have screened at international festivals including Sundance, Cannes (ACID), Rotterdam, Locarno and Toronto. Her documentary Massaker, for which she was also cinematographer, premiered…

Known For

Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power

Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power · 2022

Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power

MovieDocumentaryDrama

Investigates the politics of cinematic shot design, and how this meta-level of filmmaking intersects with the twin epidemics of sexual abuse/assault and employment discrimination against women, with over 80 movie clips from 1896 - 2020.

Phantom Love

Phantom Love · 2007

MovieDramaFantasy

A surreal drama about an alienated family set in Koreatown, Los Angeles and Rishikesh, India.

Massacre

Massacre · 2005

MovieDocumentary

Interviews with six of the mass murderers from Sabra and Shatilla. The faces are in black and are not identifiable.

Magdalena Viraga

Magdalena Viraga · 1986

Magdalena Viraga

Story of A Red Sea Crossing. Shot in the bars and seedy hotels of East LA, this film is about the inner life of a prostitute imprisoned for killing her pimp.

Dissolution

Dissolution · 2010

Hitparkut (Dissolution) combines an almost surreal fairy-tale energy with brutal black and white realism to explore the condition of violence which permeates contemporary Israeli society. Shot is Yafo (the predominantly Arab area of Tel Aviv), the movie follows the moral collapse and first glimmer of redemption, of a young, morose Israeli Jew, played by Israeli actor Didi Fire

Water Spell

Water Spell · 2007

"Sandy Ding's WATER SPELL is a bold, abstract journey that takes us into the psychic interior of our very cellular structure... and back. For me, this film is about reincarnation and transformation, on both the spiritual and sub-atomic levels. This is not an easy film, but it is a powerful one."  --Nina Menkes

Queen of Diamonds

Queen of Diamonds · 1991

Queen of Diamonds

Firdaus is a Blackjack dealer in a Las Vegas landscape juxtaposed between glittering casino lights and the deteriorating desert oasis. Negotiating a missing husband and neighboring domestic violence, Firdaus’ world unfolds as a fragmented interplay between repetition and repressed anger.

The Great Sadness of Zohara

The Great Sadness of Zohara · 1983

The Great Sadness of Zohara

A young, orthodox Jewish woman is alienated from her Jerusalem community and drawn into the world of spirit.

Filmography

Sort

Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power

Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power · 2022

Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power

MovieDocumentaryDrama

Investigates the politics of cinematic shot design, and how this meta-level of filmmaking intersects with the twin epidemics of sexual abuse/assault and employment discrimination against women, with over 80 movie clips from 1896 - 2020.

Director

Phantom Love

Phantom Love · 2007

MovieDramaFantasy

A surreal drama about an alienated family set in Koreatown, Los Angeles and Rishikesh, India.

Director

Massacre

Massacre · 2005

MovieDocumentary

Interviews with six of the mass murderers from Sabra and Shatilla. The faces are in black and are not identifiable.

Co-Director

Magdalena Viraga

Magdalena Viraga · 1986

Magdalena Viraga

Story of A Red Sea Crossing. Shot in the bars and seedy hotels of East LA, this film is about the inner life of a prostitute imprisoned for killing her pimp.

Director

Dissolution

Dissolution · 2010

Hitparkut (Dissolution) combines an almost surreal fairy-tale energy with brutal black and white realism to explore the condition of violence which permeates contemporary Israeli society. Shot is Yafo (the predominantly Arab area of Tel Aviv), the movie follows the moral collapse and first glimmer of redemption, of a young, morose Israeli Jew, played by Israeli actor Didi Fire

Director

Water Spell

Water Spell · 2007

"Sandy Ding's WATER SPELL is a bold, abstract journey that takes us into the psychic interior of our very cellular structure... and back. For me, this film is about reincarnation and transformation, on both the spiritual and sub-atomic levels. This is not an easy film, but it is a powerful one."  --Nina Menkes

Thanks

Queen of Diamonds

Queen of Diamonds · 1991

Queen of Diamonds

Firdaus is a Blackjack dealer in a Las Vegas landscape juxtaposed between glittering casino lights and the deteriorating desert oasis. Negotiating a missing husband and neighboring domestic violence, Firdaus’ world unfolds as a fragmented interplay between repetition and repressed anger.

Editor

The Great Sadness of Zohara

The Great Sadness of Zohara · 1983

The Great Sadness of Zohara

A young, orthodox Jewish woman is alienated from her Jerusalem community and drawn into the world of spirit.

Director

The Bloody Child

The Bloody Child · 1996

The Bloody Child

This film was inspired by a real event—a young US Marine, recently back from the Gulf War, was found digging a grave for his murdered wife in the middle of the California Mojave.

Director

A Soft Warrior

A Soft Warrior · 1981

Nina's first collaboration with her sister Tinka Menkes, the film documents, in a strange and beautiful way, a serious illness suffered by Tinka, and also expresses how art is a transformative response to life.

Director