Leena Manimekalai

Films and activism

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. 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. 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.

Waves After Waves explores how art rejuvenates the lives of children, devastated by the 2004 tsunami at the coastal villages of Tamil Nadu. 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. 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.

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." Manimekalai's first feature film Sengadal completed production in 2011.

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

Personal life

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

Support for LGBT and Pride march

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. 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 in prison on 'sedition' charges which adds a guerrilla status to the anthology. A Tamil version of openly bisexual Afro American poet June Jordan's cult verse 'About my rights' is another highlight of Antharakanni.

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. 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.

Filmography

Director

Actor

Publications

Poem collections

Awards and achievements

• 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

Row over Kaali poster

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".

References

Sources

References

1. (2002-08-22). "Out of the morality race".
2. (2011-11-06). "Leena Manimekalai: Broke but not broken {{!}} Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna.
3. "Leena Manimekalai: From Rural to Global".
4. Konangal. (2013-08-01). "KONANGAL: 3rd August 2013; LEENA MANIMEKALI 's Mathamma & Goddesses".
5. (2008-03-22). "Life through Leena's lens". The Hindu.
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.
7. (14 November 2013). "White Van Stories – reporting on Sri Lanka's disappeared".
8. (14 November 2013). "White Van Stories: Sri Lanka's 'disappeared'".
9. Subramanian, Karthik. (19 October 2013). "Documenting stories of forced disappearances in Lanka". The Hindu.
10. (24 April 2018). "On Vidupattavai and the space that queer voices are claiming for themselves in Tamil literature - Firstpost".
11. Karthikeyan, D.. (30 July 2012). "The Hindu : NATIONAL TAMIL NADU : Madurai comes out of the closet". The Hindu.
12. (29 July 2012). "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community seeks to increase support base". [[The Times of India]].
13. (16 June 2012). "Leena Manimekalai is all set for a cause". [[The Times of India]].
14. Abinaya Kalyanasundaram. (27 July 2017). "Real queer stories on reel". The New Indian Express.
15. Corporation), NHK (Japan Broadcasting. "IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK? - Inside Lens - NHK WORLD - English".
16. "Twinterview: Leena Manimekalai". femina.in.
17. (5 July 2022). "Kali poster: India police lodge complaint against Leena Manimekalai". BBC News.
18. (6 July 2022). "Canada's Aga Khan museum apologises after row over Leena Manimekalai's Kaali". The News Minute.
19. (5 July 2022). "FIR against director Leena Manimekalai for depicting 'derogatory' image of Hindu deity". The Hindu.
20. (7 July 2022). "Kaali can't be destroyed: Filmmaker Leena Manimekalai as Twitter removes poster".
21. (7 July 2022). "Post Kaali poster controversy, Leena Manimekalai isn't feeling safe; clarifies Goddess smoking scene".
22. "Toronto filmmaker receives backlash, death threats over Hindu goddess poster".