Over the past 30 years “cinematic sorceress” Nina Menkes has produced a visually stunning and uncompromising body of work that stands alone in the landscape of American independent cinema. Beginning with a quartet of films — THE GREAT SADNESS OF ZOHARA (1983), MAGDALENA VIRAGA (1986), QUEEN OF DIAMONDS (1991) and THE BLOODY CHILD (1996) — that Menkes produced, wrote, directed, and shot, all of which star her sister and early muse Tinka Menkes, and concluding with a pair of surreal black and white psychodramas — PHANTOM LOVE (2007) and DISSOLUTION (2010) – CINEMATIC SORCERESS: THE FILMS OF NINA MENKES is a comprehensive survey of one of the most essential filmmakers working today.
Fearlessly confronting violence, female subjectivity and isolation in iconically lensed locales, ranging from the American Southwest to Israel and North Africa, Menkes work only becomes more vital and relevant with the passage of time. Arbelos is proud to present THE GREAT SADNESS OF ZOHARA and MAGDALENA VIRAGA in new 2K restorations, QUEEN OF DIAMONDS and THE BLOODY CHILD in new 4K restorations courtesy of the The Academy Film Archive and The Film Foundation, with funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation and Phantom Love in a newly remastered version. MAGDALENA VIRAGA and QUEEN OF DIAMONDs are co-presented with Eos World Fund.
Special Features:
New 2K restoration of MAGDALENA VIRAGA.
New 4K restoration of QUEEN OF DIAMONDS.
New 4K restoration of THE BLOODY CHILD.
New remaster of THE GREAT SADNESS OF ZOHARA.
New remaster of PHANTOM LOVE.
New video interview with Nina Menkes and Mike Plante.
Q+A with Nina Menkes and K.J. Relth-Miller.
Q+A with Nina Menkes and Ann Hornaday.
New video essay Cards on the Table by Jessica McGoff.
Audio commentaries with Nina Menkes on four films.
Original short feature The Lioness.
Cinematic Sorceress theatrical retrospective trailer.
U.S. theatrical trailer of QUEEN OF DIAMONDS.
U.S. theatrical trailer of THE BLOODY CHILD.
Booklet featuring a new essay by Elena Gorfinkel.
English subtitles on all six films.
English, Hebrew and Arabic, with English subtitles
