GeorgeGirdleston at 20:27, 3 May 2026

2026-05-03T20:27:40Z

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{{short description|Film maker, poet, and actor}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{BLP sources|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox person/Wikidata
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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==

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''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/lf/2002/08/22/stories/2002082201790200.htm|website=[[The Hindu]]|title=Out of the morality race|date=2002-08-22|access-date=2018-04-25}}{{dead link|date=April 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report-leena-manimekalai-broke-but-not-broken-1608142|title=Leena Manimekalai: Broke but not broken {{!}} Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis|date=2011-11-06|work=dna|access-date=2018-04-25|language=en-US|archive-date=13 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180313093936/http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report-leena-manimekalai-broke-but-not-broken-1608142|url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Leena Manimekalai: From Rural to Global |url=https://krishijagran.com/news/leena-manimekalai-from-rural-to-global/ |access-date=2023-08-05 |website=krishijagran.com |language=en |archive-date=5 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230805100806/https://krishijagran.com/news/leena-manimekalai-from-rural-to-global/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

''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|date= September 2022}} 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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Konangal |date=2013-08-01 |title=KONANGAL: 3rd August 2013; LEENA MANIMEKALI 's Mathamma & Goddesses |url=http://konangalfilmsociety.blogspot.com/2013/08/3rd-august-2013-leena-manimekali-s.html |access-date=2023-08-05 |website=KONANGAL |archive-date=5 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230805100805/http://konangalfilmsociety.blogspot.com/2013/08/3rd-august-2013-leena-manimekali-s.html |url-status=live }}</ref> ''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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/Life-through-Leenarsquos-lens/article15376042.ece|title=Life through Leena's lens|date=2008-03-22|work=The Hindu|access-date=2018-04-25|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

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."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://silverscreenindia.com/movies/features/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/ | title='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 | first=Krupa | last=Ge | date=11 September 2019 | publisher=SilverScreen Indian | accessdate=24 August 2020 }}</ref> Manimekalai's first feature film ''[[Sengadal]]'' completed production in 2011.

{{Quote box|width=246px|bgcolor=#c6dbf7|align=right|quote="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."<ref name="channel4.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/news/sri-lanka-white-vans-interview-leena-manimekalai-video|title=White Van Stories – reporting on Sri Lanka's disappeared|date=14 November 2013|accessdate=20 April 2018|archive-date=21 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180421030600/https://www.channel4.com/news/sri-lanka-white-vans-interview-leena-manimekalai-video|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/news/white-van-stories-sri-lanka-disappeared-video|title=White Van Stories: Sri Lanka's 'disappeared'|date=14 November 2013|accessdate=20 April 2018|archive-date=21 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180421030558/https://www.channel4.com/news/white-van-stories-sri-lanka-disappeared-video|url-status=live}}</ref> |source=—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.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/documenting-stories-of-forced-disappearances-in-lanka/article5248733.ece | location=Chennai, India | work=The Hindu | first=Karthik | last=Subramanian | title=Documenting stories of forced disappearances in Lanka | date=19 October 2013 | access-date=28 November 2013 | archive-date=22 November 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131122052303/http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/documenting-stories-of-forced-disappearances-in-lanka/article5248733.ece | url-status=live }}</ref>

==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).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.firstpost.com/living/on-vidupattavai-and-the-space-that-queer-voices-are-claiming-for-themselves-in-tamil-literature-4444391.html|title=On Vidupattavai and the space that queer voices are claiming for themselves in Tamil literature - Firstpost|website=firstpost.com|date=24 April 2018|access-date=2018-04-25|archive-date=25 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180425183330/https://www.firstpost.com/living/on-vidupattavai-and-the-space-that-queer-voices-are-claiming-for-themselves-in-tamil-literature-4444391.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Support for LGBT and Pride march==
{{Quote box|width=246px|bgcolor=#c6dbf7|align=left|quote="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"<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/article3701774.ece?fb_action_ids=404953079560834&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=246965925417366 |title= The Hindu : NATIONAL TAMIL NADU : Madurai comes out of the closet|work=The Hindu|date= 30 July 2012|accessdate=30 July 2012 |location=Chennai, India |first=D. |last=Karthikeyan}}</ref> |source=— 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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-and-Transgender-community-seeks-to-increase-support-base/articleshow/15247326.cms |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006020742/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-29/madurai/32923211_1_transgender-community-kalki-subramaniam-lgbt |url-status=live |archive-date=6 October 2013 |title=Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community seeks to increase support base |date=29 July 2012 |work=[[The Times of India]] |access-date=16 August 2013}}</ref> 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|date=March 2021}} in prison on 'sedition' charges which adds a guerrilla status to the anthology.<ref name=":0" /> A Tamil version of openly bisexual Afro American poet [[June Jordan]]'s cult verse 'About my rights' is another highlight of ''Antharakanni''.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-16/news-interviews/32255775_1_queer-film-film-festival-feature-film |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101224528/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-16/news-interviews/32255775_1_queer-film-film-festival-feature-film |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 January 2014 |title=Leena Manimekalai is all set for a cause |date=16 June 2012 |work=[[The Times of India]] |accessdate=16 August 2013}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2017/jul/26/real-queer-stories-on-reel-1633981.html|title=Real queer stories on reel|author=Abinaya Kalyanasundaram|date=27 July 2017|work=The New Indian Express|access-date=25 August 2017|archive-date=4 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170804053147/http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2017/jul/26/real-queer-stories-on-reel-1633981.html|url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Citation|last=Corporation)|first=NHK (Japan Broadcasting|title=IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK? - Inside Lens - NHK WORLD - English|url=https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/tv/lens/314_28.html|language=en|accessdate=2017-08-24|archive-date=25 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825023050/https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/tv/lens/314_28.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{clear}}

==Filmography==
===Director===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Title !! Category
|-
| 2003 || ''Mathamma'' || rowspan="3" | Documentary
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2004 || ''Parai''
|-
| ''Break the Shackles''
|-
| ''Love Lost'' || Video Poem
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2005 || ''Connecting Lines'' || rowspan="5" | Documentary
|-
| ''Altar''
|-
| 2006 || ''Waves After Waves''
|-
| 2007 || ''A Hole in the Bucket''
|-
| 2008 || ''Goddesses''
|-
| 2011 || ''[[Sengadal]]'' || Feature Fiction
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2012 || ''My Mirror is the Door'' || Video Poem
|-
| ''Ballad of Resistance'' || Video Portrait
|-
| 2013 || ''[[White Van Stories]]'' || rowspan="2" | Documentary
|-
| 2017 || ''Is it too much to Ask''
|-
|2021 || ''[[Maadathy]]'' || Feature film
|-
|2022 || ''Kaali'' || Documentary film
|}

===Actor===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! 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==
===Poem collections===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! 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==
{{BLP unreferenced section|date= September 2022}}
* 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 (director)|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<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://femina.in/women/women-like-you/twinterview-leena-manimekalai-3531.html|title=Twinterview: Leena Manimekalai|work=femina.in|access-date=2018-04-25|language=en|archive-date=24 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524023004/http://femina.in/women/women-like-you/twinterview-leena-manimekalai-3531.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==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 [[Kali|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".<ref>{{cite news |title=Kali poster: India police lodge complaint against Leena Manimekalai |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-62033006 |work=BBC News |date=5 July 2022 |access-date=7 July 2022 |archive-date=7 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707000922/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-62033006 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Canada's Aga Khan museum apologises after row over Leena Manimekalai's Kaali |url=https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/canada-aga-khan-museum-cancels-shows-leena-manimekalais-kaali-after-row-165583 |work=The News Minute |date=6 July 2022 |language=en |access-date=7 July 2022 |archive-date=7 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707071333/https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/canada-aga-khan-museum-cancels-shows-leena-manimekalais-kaali-after-row-165583 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Sur |first1=Arnabjit |title=FIR against director Leena Manimekalai for depicting 'derogatory' image of Hindu deity |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/fir-against-director-leena-manimekalai-for-depicting-derogatory-image-of-hindu-deity/article65603601.ece |work=The Hindu |date=5 July 2022 |language=en-IN |access-date=7 July 2022 |archive-date=7 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707071503/https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/fir-against-director-leena-manimekalai-for-depicting-derogatory-image-of-hindu-deity/article65603601.ece |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/kaali-can-t-be-destroyed-filmmaker-leena-manimekalai-as-twitter-removes-poster-101657155838634.html | title=Kaali can't be destroyed: Filmmaker Leena Manimekalai as Twitter removes poster | date=7 July 2022 | access-date=7 July 2022 | archive-date=7 July 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707080347/https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/kaali-can-t-be-destroyed-filmmaker-leena-manimekalai-as-twitter-removes-poster-101657155838634.html | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.indiatvnews.com/entertainment/news/kaali-poster-controversy-leena-manimekalai-is-not-feeling-safe-clarifies-hindu-goddess-smoking-scene-latest-update-2022-07-07-790358 | title=Post Kaali poster controversy, Leena Manimekalai isn't feeling safe; clarifies Goddess smoking scene | date=7 July 2022 | access-date=7 July 2022 | archive-date=7 July 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707130145/https://www.indiatvnews.com/entertainment/news/kaali-poster-controversy-leena-manimekalai-is-not-feeling-safe-clarifies-hindu-goddess-smoking-scene-latest-update-2022-07-07-790358 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Toronto filmmaker receives backlash, death threats over Hindu goddess poster |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/leena-manimekalai-kaali-film-poster-hindu-right-1.6519758 |access-date=21 July 2022 |archive-date=22 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220722024437/https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/leena-manimekalai-kaali-film-poster-hindu-right-1.6519758 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of Indian documentary filmmakers]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite news|author=Abdul Latheef Naha|url=http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/30/stories/2006073002160200.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080319215204/http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/30/stories/2006073002160200.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 March 2008|title=Giving voice to the voiceless |date=30 July 2006|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|location=Chennai, India}}
* {{cite news|author=S. R. Ashok Kumar|url=http://www.hindu.com/fr/2007/11/02/stories/2007110250650400.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071104232757/http://www.hindu.com/fr/2007/11/02/stories/2007110250650400.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 November 2007|title=Filled by poignant images |date=2 November 2007|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]}}
* {{cite news|author=S. R. Ashok Kumar|url=http://www.hindu.com/fr/2006/04/14/stories/2006041402260900.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060510200722/http://www.hindu.com/fr/2006/04/14/stories/2006041402260900.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 May 2006|title=With social change as goal |date=14 April 2006|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|location=Chennai, India}}
* {{cite news|author=P. Oppili|url=http://www.hindu.com/2005/09/22/stories/2005092216570200.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051207164414/http://www.hindu.com/2005/09/22/stories/2005092216570200.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 December 2005|title=A documentary on students and politics |date=22 September 2005|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Leena Manimekalai}}
* {{Official website|http://leenamanimekalai.com/}}
* [http://www.blogger.com/profile/01496093601578156906 Leena Manimekalai's official blog]
* {{IMDb name|3972347}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manimekalai, Leena}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Indian LGBTQ rights activists]]
[[Category:Indian documentary filmmakers]]
[[Category:Film directors from Chennai]]
[[Category:Indian women film directors]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women artists]]
[[Category:Women artists from Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Women writers from Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Poets from Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian poets]]
[[Category:Indian women poets]]
[[Category:Indian Tamil people]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from Chennai]]
[[Category:Indian women screenwriters]]
[[Category:Film producers from Chennai]]
[[Category:Indian women documentary filmmakers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian screenwriters]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:21st-century women poets]]

Leena Manimekalai - Revision history

GeorgeGirdleston at 20:27, 3 May 2026