In this episode, we’re speaking with pioneering filmmaker Nina Menkes, who’s one of the first women to present a feature film at Sundance and the filmmaker behind documentary BRAINWASHED: Sex-Camera-Power, which premiered at Sundance 2022 and has since screened at other prominent festivals worldwide. BRAINWASHED was released theatrically in October 2022 by Kino Lorber.

 

Considered a cinematic feminist pioneer and one of America’s foremost independent filmmakers, Nina has shown widely in major international film festivals including multiple premieres at Sundance, Cannes, the Berlinale and Toronto.

 

Nina has an MFA with high honors from the UCLA Film School (1989). She’s taught film directing at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and is currently a faculty member at California Institute of the Arts. She is a directing member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

 

Nina synthesizes inner-dream worlds with harsh, outer realities. She was called “brilliant, one of the most provocative artists in film today” by the Los Angeles Times, and her body of work was described as “controversial, intense and visually stunning” by Sight and Sound. Nina has referred to herself as a witch; and Dennis Lim, writing in The New York Times, called her a “cinematic sorceress.”