Leena Manimekalai

Leena Manimekalai Biography

Leena Manimekalai is an artist from Tamil Nadu. She is an independent filmmaker, poet and an actor. Many of her films have been showcased in international film awards winning accolades. She has done films belonging to documentary, fiction and experimental poems. As of now she has published 5 collections of poems. She has worked as an assistant director in entertainment industry before she turned a full-fledged director. Leena identifies as bisexual, as described in her poetry collection, Ulagin Azhagiya Muthal Penn. Leena has also appeared in a few films. She has received fellowships of many universities across the world.

Leena Manimekalai worked as an assistant director in the film industry for a while. She also had experience in television in the roles of Television Producer and Anchor. In 2002 she made her first documentary film, Mathamma, which told about the custom of devoting girl children to the deity in a remote village of Arakkonam. Parai is a film on violence against Dalit women. Many of her works chose themes from women’s life and social evils. Break the Shackles is about the effects of globalisation on rural Tamil villages, while Love Lost is about changing relationships in urban world. Connecting Lines, Waves After Waves, Goddesses, White Van Stories, Altar, A Hole In The Bucket etc are a few more.

Goddesses is among her acclaimed works. This women-centric work telling the lives of a fisherwoman, a gravedigger and a funeral singer won her the prestigious Golden Conch at the Mumbai International Film Festival, 2008. As an independent feature film maker, she marked her debut with Sengadal in 2011 starring herself in lead role and Antonythasan Jesuthasan.

Published: September 14, 2018

Updated: September 14, 2018