Pratibha Parmar

Directing

Pratibha Parmar

Born 1955-02-11 · Nairobi, Kenya

Pratibha Parmar is a British filmmaker who has directed numerous award-winning films for BBC, Channel 4, ITVS, PBS and European broadcaster. Her work has also had theatrical distribution. Her credits include Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth, a feature length documentary on the life of Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Color Purple and includes interviews with Steven Spielberg, Danny Glover and Quincy Jones. Recognized as a pioneering filmmaker, Pratibha directed the ground breaking film Khush, one of the first films to give visibility to and highlight the experiences of LGBT people in India. Pratibha made her debut as a narrative director with her award-winning romantic comedy, Nina's Heavenly Delights. In 2019 Pratibha made her US debut as a director of scripted television when she was invited by Ava DuVernay to direct episode 12 of Season 4 of Queen Sugar, executive produced by Ava DuVernay & Oprah Winfrey for OWN/Warner Brothers.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

My Name Is Andrea poster
3.8

A rousing portrait of feminist writer Andrea Dworkin, one of the most controversial and misunderstood figures of the 20th century, who fought passionately for justice and equality for women.

My Name Is Andrea

2022

My Name Is Andrea poster
3.8

A rousing portrait of feminist writer Andrea Dworkin, one of the most controversial and misunderstood figures of the 20th century, who fought passionately for justice and equality for women.

My Name Is Andrea

2022

Wavelengths poster
3.0

A woman searches for emotionally safer sex via gay bars and the internet.

Wavelengths

1999

Nina's Heavenly Delights poster
6.7

A feisty young woman returns to Glasgow to run her deceased father's curry house.

Nina's Heavenly Delights

2006

Nina's Heavenly Delights poster
6.7

A feisty young woman returns to Glasgow to run her deceased father's curry house.

Nina's Heavenly Delights

2006

Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth poster
3.5

The compelling story of an extraordinary woman's journey from her birth in a paper thin shack in the cotton fields of Georgia to her recognition as a key writer of the twentieth Century.Walker made history as the first black woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for her groundbreaking novel, The Color Purple.

Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth

2013

Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth poster
3.5

The compelling story of an extraordinary woman's journey from her birth in a paper thin shack in the cotton fields of Georgia to her recognition as a key writer of the twentieth Century.Walker made history as the first black woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for her groundbreaking novel, The Color Purple.

Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth

2013

Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth poster
3.5

The compelling story of an extraordinary woman's journey from her birth in a paper thin shack in the cotton fields of Georgia to her recognition as a key writer of the twentieth Century.Walker made history as the first black woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for her groundbreaking novel, The Color Purple.

Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth

2013

The Righteous Babes poster
3.3

The Righteous Babes shows how the self-affirmative music of young women is renewing the 90's feminism. In the film, audience can experience feminism not in the library but in the rock concert hall. The film shows interviews and performances. In addition, controversial feminists along with American and British women journalists share their views on pop culture.

The Righteous Babes

1998

Emergence poster
10.0

Four Black and Third World women artists, among them African American feminist poet Audre Lorde and Palestinian performance artist Mona Hatoum, speak forcefully through their art and writing.

Emergence

1986

Emergence poster
10.0

Four Black and Third World women artists, among them African American feminist poet Audre Lorde and Palestinian performance artist Mona Hatoum, speak forcefully through their art and writing.

Emergence

1986

Reframing AIDS poster
NR

Through a series of interviews with leading British AIDS activists and cultural theorists, this documentary investigates the way in which AIDS has been used by the media and by the government to increase state harassment of gay men and lesbians, black people and women. Framing the problem in terms of a left politic, the tape reveals how both homophobia and puritanism have been responsible for the slow government response to AIDS.

Reframing AIDS

1987

Warrior Marks poster
7.0

WARRIOR MARKS is a poetic and political film about female genital mutilation from the director of A PLACE OF RAGE, presented by the Pulitzer Prize winning author of THE COLOR PURPLE and POSSESSING THE SECRET OF JOY. Female genital mutilation affects one hundred million of the world’s women and this remarkable film unlocks some of the cultural and political complexities surrounding this issue. Interviews with women from Senegal, Gambia, Burkino Faso, the United States and England who are concerned with and affected by genital mutilation are intercut with Walker’s own personal reflections on the subject.

Warrior Marks

1994

Warrior Marks poster
7.0

WARRIOR MARKS is a poetic and political film about female genital mutilation from the director of A PLACE OF RAGE, presented by the Pulitzer Prize winning author of THE COLOR PURPLE and POSSESSING THE SECRET OF JOY. Female genital mutilation affects one hundred million of the world’s women and this remarkable film unlocks some of the cultural and political complexities surrounding this issue. Interviews with women from Senegal, Gambia, Burkino Faso, the United States and England who are concerned with and affected by genital mutilation are intercut with Walker’s own personal reflections on the subject.

Warrior Marks

1994

Memsahib Rita poster
8.0

Using a blend of magic realism and realist drama, Memsahib Rita looks at the physical and emotional violence of racism. Shanti is haunted by both the racist taunts of nationalist white youths and the memory of her white mother.

Memsahib Rita

1994

A Place of Rage poster
4.5

Featuring enlightening interviews with Angela Davis, June Jordan, and Alice Walker, this essential documentary is an exuberant celebration of Black American women and their achievements. Within the context of the civil rights, Black power, feminist, and LGBT movements, the trio reassess how women such as Rosa Parks and Fannie Lou Hamer revolutionized American society and the world.

A Place of Rage

1991

Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun poster
3.3

A rare and lively examination of disability and homosexuality as it affects both women and men, Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun advocates for acceptance rather than pity for participants in this video. Interviews with a wide range of disabled lesbian and gay people are inter-cut with dramatic recreations and performances.

Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun

1992

Jodie: An Icon poster
3.7

Jodie is a fast paced, breezy look at the transatlantic phenomenon that has made Hollywood actress Jodie Foster an icon for lesbians who identify with, adore and celebrate the screen personas of her remarkable career.

Jodie: An Icon

1996

Khush poster
2.3

Khush means ecstatic pleasure in Urdu. For South Asian lesbians and gay men in Britain, North America, and India, the term captures the blissful intricacies of being queer and of color. Inspiring testimonies bridge geographical differences to locate shared experiences of isolation and exoticization but also the unremitting joys and solidarity of being khush.

Khush

1991

Sari Red poster
9.0

Made in memory of Kalbinder Kaur Hayre, a young British-Indian woman murdered in 1985 in a racist attack in England, Sari Red examines the effect of the ever-present threat of violence upon the lives of Asian women in both private and public spheres. In this moving visual poem, the title refers to red, the color of blood spilt and the red of the sari, symbolizing sensuality and intimacy between Asian women.

Sari Red

1988

No artwork available
NR

A short documentary that depicts the explosion of second generation South Asian talent in mainstream British culture in the late 1990s; features musicians Talvin Singh, Asian Dub Foundation and Cornershop as well as fashion designers and writers.

Brimful of Asia

1998

No artwork available
NR

Animated short of June Jordan reading her ‘Poem about My Rights’.

Poem about My Rights

2011

No artwork available
NR

Love, migration, and longing through the photographic archive of Sunil Gupta, blending image and narration to explore queer self-making

Memory Pictures

1984

Flesh and Paper poster
8.0

FLESH AND PAPER is a lyrical exploration of the sense and sensibilities of Indian lesbian poet and writer, Suniti Bamjoshi. This moving and powerful portrait of a unique and brave woman weaves Namjoshi’s life and writings into a sensual tapestry. Born into an Indian royal family, Namjoshi discusses her reasons for leaving India (she fell in love with her best friend), and her experiences as a cultural outsider in the U.S. Showing how “language invents worlds,” her vision as an Indian lesbian feminist is informed both by a lesbian consciousness and a deep Indian cultural framework. A prolific writer who has been widely published in the U.K., Canada and India over the past twenty years, Namjoshi’s poems, fables and novels are characterized by her wit and wry, satirical sense of humor. FLESH AND PAPER, captures the spirit of Namjoshi’s poetry in an evocative, multi-layered way.

Flesh and Paper

1990