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Leena Manimekalai

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Leena Manimekalai
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Leena Manimekalai is an Indian filmmaker, poet and an actor. Her works include five published poetry anthologies and several films in genres, documentary, fiction and experimental poem films. She has been recognised with participation, mentions and best film awards in many international and national film festivals.

Films and activism

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After a brief period as an assistant director with mainstream filmmakers and an intensive experience as a Television Producer and Anchor, she debuted in 2002 with the short documentary film Mathamma.[1] The 20-minute-long docu-fiction is about devoting girl children to the deity, a practice prevalent among the Arundhatiyar community in Mangattucheri village near Arakkonam, Chennai.[2] Her other films too deal with the issues of the marginalised. Parai is a film on violence against Dalit women. She went on the road with her films across hundreds of villages serving her videos a tool for participatory dialogue with the masses on compelling issues.

Break the Shackles is about the effects of globalisation on rural Tamil villages.[3]

Waves After Waves explores how art rejuvenates the lives of children, devastated by the 2004 tsunami at the coastal villages of Tamil Nadu.[citation needed] Leena was inspired to do this project while she was serving as a volunteer in tsunami-hit regions of Tamil Nadu doing art therapy workshops for children. Altar is a documentary intervention on child marriage customs prevailing in the Kambalathu Naicker community in the central parts of Tamil Nadu.[4] A Hole in the Bucket takes a look at the dynamics of water crisis in the city of Chennai in the context of families with different income levels.[5]

Manimekalai has expressed opposition to censorship in Indian cinema: "CBFC is an archaic institution and it has to go. It is as simple as that. It is such a sore in the skin of democracy. I do not know when filmmakers will realise the very existence of CBFC is an insult to our sensibilities and collectively come together to bring it down. The 1952 Cinematograph Act has to be challenged if we think we are not stupid."[6] Manimekalai's first feature film Sengadal completed production in 2011.

"The making of White Van Stories was not a scripted journey. It was rather mystical. Maybe my constant urge to tell stories that otherwise had been forgotten pointed me towards that direction."[7][8]

—Leena Manimekalai about her documentary White van stories on Channel 4

Manimekalai's White Van Stories is a 70-minute documentary feature on enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka.[9]

Personal life

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Manimekalai identifies as bisexual and came out in her second poetry collection, Ulagin Azhagiya Muthal Penn (The Most Beautiful First Woman in the World).[10]

Support for LGBT and Pride march

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"We always have a notion that the metropolises are open to discuss about LGBT than the rural areas. But, it is a false notion. The rural and the tribal people find it easy to share us about the topics that are usually considered taboo by the urban people"[11]

— Leena Manimekalai on Alan Turing Rainbow Festival Organized by Srishti Madurai

Leena Manimekalai along with Anjali Gopalan supported the Asia's first Genderqueer Pride Parade organised by Gopi Shankar Madurai of Srishti Madurai in July 2012.[12] Leena is the author of Antharakanni, the first poetry collection in Tamil on lesbian love. Springing from Tamil folklore, her twilight poems are enchanting with lesbian sensuality. Along with her poems, it has free hand translations of "balaclave" poems of Pussy Riot, the feminist punk band of Russia whose rioters are right now[when?] in prison on 'sedition' charges which adds a guerrilla status to the anthology.[10] A Tamil version of openly bisexual Afro American poet June Jordan's cult verse 'About my rights' is another highlight of Antharakanni.[13]

In 2016, she directed a documentary about the troubles faced by two transgender women while they look for a rental apartment in Chennai and the obstacles.[14] It is titled "IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK?" and was first screened on 21 November 2016, and later many other film festivals all over the world.[15]

Filmography

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Director

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Year Title Duration Category
2003 Mathamma 20 mins Documentary
2004 Parai 45 mins Documentary
2004 Break the Shackles 50 mins Documentary
2004 Love Lost 5 mins Video Poem
2005 Connecting Lines 35 minutes Documentary
2005 Altar 50 minutes Documentary
2006 Waves After Waves 60 minutes Documentary
2007 A Hole in the Bucket 30 minutes Documentary
2008 Goddesses 42 minutes Documentary
2011 Sengadal 100 minutes Feature Fiction
2012 My Mirror is the Door 52 minutes Video Poem
2012 Ballad of Resistance 42 Minutes Video Portrait
2013 White Van Stories 70 minutes Documentary
2017 Is it too much to Ask 28 minutes Documentary
2021 Maadathy Feature film
2022 Kaali Documentary film

Actor

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Year Title Role Director Length Category
2004 Chellamma Protagonist Sivakumar 90 mins Feature fiction
2005 Love Lost Protagonist Leena Manimekalai 5 mins Video Poem
2004 The White Cat Female Protagonist Sivakumar 10 mins Short Fiction
2011 Sengadal the Dead Sea Female Protagonist Leena Manimekalai 102 mins Feature Fiction

Publications

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Poem collections

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Year Original Title English Title
2003 Ottrailaiyena As a Lone Leaf
2009 Ulakin Azhakiya Muthal Penn The First Beautiful Woman in the World
2011 Parathaiyarul Raani Queen of Sluts
2012 Antharakanni –
2016 Chichili –

Awards and achievements

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  • 2004: Retro – Ethnographic Montages, Chicago Women in Director's Chair International Film Festival
  • 2004: Silver Trophy for the Best Documentary in Europe Movies Film Festival
  • 2005: Best Actor and Best Experimental Video in Independent Art Film Festival
  • 2005: Best Documentary in Paris and Norway Independent Diaspora Festivals
  • 2005: European Union Fellowship for Conflict Resolution in Media
  • 2005: Retrospective, International Democratic Socialist Youth Film Festival, Venezuela
  • 2006: International Jury in Asian Film Festival, Malaysia
  • 2007: Jury Award for Best Cinema of Resistance – John Abraham National Award
  • 2008: Golden Conch for Best International Documentary in Mumbai International Film Festival
  • 2008: Visiting Scholar Fellowship, Berlinale
  • 2008: Nomination to Horizon Award, Munich International Film Festival
  • 2008: Nomination – Asia Pacific Screen Awards, Brisbane
  • 2008: One Billion Eyes National Award – Best Documentary
  • 2008: Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan, Birds Eye View Film Festival, London
  • 2008: Iyal Best Poetry Award from The Tamil Literary Garden for Ulakin Azhakiya Muthal Penn
  • 2011: Sirpi Literary Award for the contribution to Tamil Poetry
  • 2011: Indian Panorama Selections for Sengadal
  • 2011: NAWFF Award for Best Asian Women Cinema (Tokyo) – Sengadal
  • 2012: As Jury, International Women Film Festival, Seoul.
  • 2013: Lenin Award from Thamizh Studio (instituted in the name of film editor B. Lenin) who highlights social issues.
  • 2014: Srishti Tamil Lambda Literary Award for her book "Antharakanni" conferred by Bracha Ettinger and Anjali Gopalan Advisory Board of Srishti Madurai
  • 2015: L’Oreal Paris Femina Women Awards 2015[16]

Row over Kaali poster

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Leena Manimekalai was on the receiving end of significant backlash and threats of violence after posting an image of the Hindu goddess Kaali as a poster for her documentary film Kaali on her twitter account. The image contained a picture of Manimekalai in costume as the goddess Kali smoking a cigarette with the rainbow gay pride flag. Canada’s Aga Khan Museum, where the film had been presented once on 2 July, issued a statement expressing regret that the tweet "inadvertently caused offence".[17][18][19][20][21][22]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Out of the morality race". The Hindu. 22 August 2002. Retrieved 25 April 2018.[dead link‍]
  2. ^ "Leena Manimekalai: Broke but not broken | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. 6 November 2011. Archived from the original on 13 March 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  3. ^ "Leena Manimekalai: From Rural to Global". krishijagran.com. Archived from the original on 5 August 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
  4. ^ Konangal (1 August 2013). "KONANGAL: 3rd August 2013; LEENA MANIMEKALI 's Mathamma & Goddesses". KONANGAL. Archived from the original on 5 August 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
  5. ^ "Life through Leena's lens". The Hindu. 22 March 2008. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  6. ^ Ge, Krupa (11 September 2019). "'The Very Existence of CBFC Is An Insult To Our Sensibilities': Leena Manimekalai on Her Upcoming Un-fairy Tale 'Maadathy', #MeToo, Censors, Poetry And Politics". SilverScreen Indian. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  7. ^ "White Van Stories – reporting on Sri Lanka's disappeared". 14 November 2013. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  8. ^ "White Van Stories: Sri Lanka's 'disappeared'". 14 November 2013. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  9. ^ Subramanian, Karthik (19 October 2013). "Documenting stories of forced disappearances in Lanka". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 22 November 2013. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
  10. ^ a b "On Vidupattavai and the space that queer voices are claiming for themselves in Tamil literature - Firstpost". firstpost.com. 24 April 2018. Archived from the original on 25 April 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  11. ^ Karthikeyan, D. (30 July 2012). "The Hindu : NATIONAL TAMIL NADU : Madurai comes out of the closet". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  12. ^ "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community seeks to increase support base". The Times of India. 29 July 2012. Archived from the original on 6 October 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  13. ^ "Leena Manimekalai is all set for a cause". The Times of India. 16 June 2012. Archived from the original on 1 January 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  14. ^ Abinaya Kalyanasundaram (27 July 2017). "Real queer stories on reel". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  15. ^ Corporation), NHK (Japan Broadcasting, IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK? - Inside Lens - NHK WORLD - English, archived from the original on 25 August 2017, retrieved 24 August 2017
  16. ^ "Twinterview: Leena Manimekalai". femina.in. Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  17. ^ "Kali poster: India police lodge complaint against Leena Manimekalai". BBC News. 5 July 2022. Archived from the original on 7 July 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  18. ^ "Canada's Aga Khan museum apologises after row over Leena Manimekalai's Kaali". The News Minute. 6 July 2022. Archived from the original on 7 July 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  19. ^ Sur, Arnabjit (5 July 2022). "FIR against director Leena Manimekalai for depicting 'derogatory' image of Hindu deity". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 7 July 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  20. ^ "Kaali can't be destroyed: Filmmaker Leena Manimekalai as Twitter removes poster". 7 July 2022. Archived from the original on 7 July 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  21. ^ "Post Kaali poster controversy, Leena Manimekalai isn't feeling safe; clarifies Goddess smoking scene". 7 July 2022. Archived from the original on 7 July 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  22. ^ "Toronto filmmaker receives backlash, death threats over Hindu goddess poster". Archived from the original on 22 July 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.

Sources

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