Nina Menkes facts for kids
Nina Menkes is a special kind of filmmaker. She makes movies that tell unique stories. Her sister, Tinka, often acts in her films. Nina also teaches young filmmakers at the California Institute of the Arts. She has even given copies of her movies to the Academy Film Archive, which helps save important films for the future.
Early Life and Education
Nina Menkes was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her parents were Jewish and came from Europe. They had to leave their homes when they were children because of the Nazis. Nina grew up in Berkeley, California.
She studied at the University of California, Berkeley and earned her first degree in 1977. Later, in 1987, she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. This higher degree helped her become an even better filmmaker.
Nina started teaching film in 1985 at California State University, Northridge. Then, in 1990, she began teaching at the California Institute of the Arts in Santa Clarita, California. In the same year, she also became a film professor at the University of Southern California.
Her Amazing Films
Nina Menkes has directed many interesting films. Her sister, Tinka Menkes, often stars in them. Here are some of her notable works:
- A Soft Warrior (1981): This was one of her first short films, lasting about eleven minutes.
- The Great Sadness of Zohara (1983): This film was first shown in 1984. It won special awards at film festivals in San Francisco and Houston.
- Magdalena Viraga (1986): This movie won the Best Independent-Experimental Film Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. It was shown at big film festivals in Montreal and Toronto.
- Queen of Diamonds (1990): This film first showed at the Sundance Film Festival in 1991. In this movie, Tinka Menkes plays a casino worker called a croupier. The film was carefully restored in 2018 by The Film Foundation and the Academy Film Archive so more people could see it.
- Massacre (Massaker) (2005): Nina worked on the camera for this film with other directors.
- Phantom Love (2007): Another one of Nina's unique films.
- Dissolution (Hitparkut) (2010): This movie was a new version of the famous book Crime and Punishment. It was set in a mostly Arab neighborhood in Tel Aviv, Israel. The film was shot in black-and-white, giving it a special look.
See also
In Spanish: Nina Menkes para niños
