The Great Sadness of Zohara

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. 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 significant acclaim.

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 currently teaches at California Institute of the Arts and is a member of the Directors Guild of America.