Pratibha Parmar
Pratibha Parmar | |
|---|---|
| Born | Nairobi, Kenya |
| Alma mater | University of Birmingham |
| Occupation(s) | Writer and filmmaker |
| Notable work | Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth (2014); My Name Is Andrea (2022) |
| Website | pratibhaparmar |
Pratibha Parmar is a British writer and filmmaker. She makes feminist documentaries such as Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth (2014) and My Name Is Andrea (2022).
Early life and education
[edit]Parmar was born in Nairobi, Kenya, to Indian parents; when she was 11 years old her family moved to the United Kingdom.[1] She received a B.A. degree from Bradford University and attended Birmingham University for postgraduate education.[2] Parmar's feminism was influenced by writers such as Angela Davis, June Jordan, Cherríe Moraga, Barbara Smith, Alice Walker, Audre Lorde, and Gloria Anzaldúa.[3]
Career
[edit]In her 1991 film Khush, Parmar examined the world of South Asian lesbians and gay men in the United Kingdom and India, using a mix of documentary footage and dramatized scenes.[4]
The documentary Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth (2014) is about the life of author and activist Alice Walker, whom Parmar met in 1991 via June Jordan and Angela Davis.[5] Walker and Parmar also collaborated on Warrior Marks, a documentary about female genital mutilation.[5][6] They then released a book, also entitled Warrior Marks (1993).[7]
In 2022, Parmar released her documentary My Name is Andrea, about feminist writer Andrea Dworkin.[8]
Parmar has also made music videos for Morcheeba, Tori Amos, and Midge Ure.[citation needed]
Awards and recognition
[edit]- 1993 Frameline Award[2]
- 1995 Trikone Pink Peacock Award[2]
- 2016 BBC's 100 Women[9]
Khush
[edit]- 1991 Frameline Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary Short[2]
- 1992 Créteil International Women's Film Festival Public Prize for Best Foreign Film[2]
Selected works
[edit]Film
[edit]- Khush (1991)
- A Place of Rage (1991)
- Nina's Heavenly Delights (2006)
- Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth (2014)
- My Name is Andrea (2022)
Writing
[edit]- "Pocket Sized Venus" in Femmes of Power: Exploding Queer Femininities, Del LaGrace Volcano and Ulrika Dahl (eds.). Serpent's Tail, 2008.
- Warrior Marks, co-authored with Alice Walker. Harcourt/Jonathan Cape, November 1993.
- Queer Looks: An Anthology of Writings about Lesbian and Gay Media, co-edited with Martha Gever & John Greyson. Routledge, October 1993.
- "Perverse Politics", in Feminist Review No. 34, 1991.
- "Challenging Imperial Feminism with Valerie Amos", in Feminist Review, 1984. Reprinted in Feminism & Race, Oxford University Press, 2000.
See also
[edit]- List of female film and television directors
- List of lesbian filmmakers
- List of LGBTQ-related films directed by women
References
[edit]- ^ "Pratibha Parmar". Kali Films. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
- ^ a b c d e Saigal, Ranjani (28 May 2007). "In Conversation With Pratibha Parmar". Lokvani. Archived from the original on 16 November 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
- ^ Parmar, Pratibha (18 February 2014). "Personal is Political: Audre Lorde: Sister Insider". The Feminist Wire. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
- ^ Kaplan, E. Ann (2012). Looking for the Other: Feminism, Film and the Imperial Gaze. Routledge. p. 283. ISBN 978-1-135-20875-2.
- ^ a b Simmons, Aishah Shahidah (25 October 2011). "Alice Walker: Beauty In Truth". Ms. Magazine. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
- ^ "Warrior Marks (1993)". Movies. The New York Times. 14 March 2008. Archived from the original on 15 March 2008.
- ^ McCoy, Frank (May 1994). "Hearing Women's Cries". Black Enterprise. Vol. 24, no. 10. Earl G. Graves, Ltd. p. 103. ISSN 0006-4165. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
- ^ Linden, Sheri (11 June 2022). "'My Name Is Andrea': Film Review | Tribeca 2022". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
- ^ "BBC 100 Women 2016: Who is on the list?". BBC News. 7 October 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
Further reading
[edit]- Tyrkus, Michael (1997). Gay & Lesbian Biography. Detroit: St. James Press. pp. 355–357. ISBN 9781558622371.
- Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey (1997). Women Filmmakers of the African and Asian Diaspora. Southern Illinois University Press.
- Kaplan, E. Ann (1997). "'Can One Know the Other?' The Ambivalence of Postcolonialism in Chocolat, Warrior Marks, and Mississippi Masala" in Looking For The Other: Feminism, Film and the Imperial Gaze. Routledge.
- Knippling, Alpana Sharma (Fall 1996). "Self (En)Gendered in Ideology: Pratibha Parmar's Bhangra Jig and Sari Red" in JPCS: Journal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture & Society Vol. 1, No. 2.
- Redding, Judith M. & Victoria A. Brownworth (eds.) (1997). Film Fatales: Independent Women Directors. Seal Press.
External links
[edit]- Official website
- Pratibha Parmar at IMDb
- Pratibha Parmar at Women Make Movies
- Marjorie Baumgarten, "Two by Pratibha Parmar: A Place of Rage, Khush", The Austin Chronicle, 21 February 1992.
- Louise Carolin, "INTERVIEW/VIDEO: PRATIBHA PARMAR ON HER FILM ABOUT AMERICAN ICON ALICE WALKER", Diva, 19 March 2012.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
- 1955 births
- Living people
- 21st-century American women writers
- Activists against female genital mutilation
- Alumni of the University of Birmingham
- Alumni of the University of Bradford
- American lesbian artists
- American lesbian writers
- American LGBTQ screenwriters
- British documentary film directors
- British LGBTQ film directors
- British people of Indian descent
- British women documentary filmmakers
- British women film directors
- British women film producers
- British women screenwriters
- English film directors
- Film people from Nairobi
- Lesbian feminists
- LGBTQ film producers
- British women anthologists