Leena Manimekalai

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.

• 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 — –

• 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