Named "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 five films--( three full length features)--are a body of work
Sight and Sound has called "Controversial, intense and visually stunning."

Menkes works closely with her sister, Tinka Menkes, who is both lead
performer and creative collaborator. Their films have shown widely in major
international film festivals including Toronto, Rotterdam, Locarno, London,
Sundance, Cairo, as well as at the Cinematheque Francaise, The British Film
Institute, the Beijing Film Academy in China, the Whitney Museum of American
Art, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Menkes' many honors include a
Guggenheim Fellowship, two Fellowships from the National Endowment for the
Arts, an Annenberg Foundation Independent Media Grant, and an American Film
Institute Independent Filmmaker Award.

Most recently Menkes won a 1998 Film/Video Award from the Rockefeller
Foundation for her new script HEATSTROKE. This new feature is Executive
Produced by Gus Van Sant and is scheduled to be shot in Los Angeles,
California and Cairo, Egypt.

Nina Menkes teaches directing at the USC Film School, Los Angeles.

THE CRAZY BLOODY FEMALE CENTER (99) CD-ROM. An Interactive world, which
delves into the "energy field" of Menkes' work with her sister Tinka Menkes.
Produced by Marsha Kinder at the Annenberg Center for Communications.

THE BLOODY CHILD (96), shot in northwestern Africa and 29 Palms,
California, combines Desert Storm marines, text from Shakespeare's MacBeth
and wife-murder into a harrowing hallucinatory journey: a mesmerizing look
at the desolation of violence. Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called
it "Brilliant...an awe-inspiring work of art on the highest level; one of the
year's top five films."

QUEEN OF DIAMONDS (91) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in
competition. Filmed on location in Las Vegas, QUEEN revolves around the life
of an alienated black jack dealer and was named one of the 10 Best Films of
1991 by the Los Angeles Times, Atlanta Art Papers, and other periodicals.

MAGDALENA VIRAGA (86) about the inner life of a prostitute imprisoned for
killing her pimp, won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for
"Best Independent Film of the Year", and was featured in the Whitney Museum
of American Art's Biennial.

THE GREAT SADNESS OF ZOHARA(83) was shot on location in Israel and Morocco.
The film traces the solitary, mystical journey of a Jewish girl who leaves
Israel for Arab lands. ZOHARA won awards at the San Francisco and Houston
International Film Festivals and was named "One of the Best Films of the
Decade" by director Allison Anders.

email Nina Menkes at menkesfilm@aol.com

also see http://www.annenberg.edu/labyrinth/menkes/