4th(2002)
Memsahib Rita
Pratibha PARMAR
- UK
- 1994
- 20min
- Beta
- color
SYNOPSIS
Memsahib Rita is a short film that is a part of the series directed by four women filmmakers of different races, including Ngozi Onwurah acclaimed for The Body Beautiful. This series is entitled Siren Spirits, and co-produced by BBC and the British Film Institute.
The director, Pratibha Parmar, positions racist prejudice and violence against Asian women within the specific social context of England in the 1990s, and thereby reflects on the issues of racial and cultural identity of Asian women of mixed descent, and also on the relation between identity and representation. Unusually, she adopts magical realism for this intriguing film, which allows the possibility of different interpretations. (Kwon Eun-sun)
The director, Pratibha Parmar, positions racist prejudice and violence against Asian women within the specific social context of England in the 1990s, and thereby reflects on the issues of racial and cultural identity of Asian women of mixed descent, and also on the relation between identity and representation. Unusually, she adopts magical realism for this intriguing film, which allows the possibility of different interpretations. (Kwon Eun-sun)
PROGRAM NOTE
Memsahib Rita is a short film that is a part of the series directed by four women filmmakers of different races, including Ngozi Onwurah acclaimed for The Body Beautiful. This series is entitled Siren Spirits, and co-produced by BBC and the British Film Institute.
The director, Pratibha Parmar, positions racist prejudice and violence against Asian women within the specific social context of England in the 1990s, and thereby reflects on the issues of racial and cultural identity of Asian women of mixed descent, and also on the relation between identity and representation. Unusually, she adopts magical realism for this intriguing film, which allows the possibility of different interpretations. (Kwon Eun-sun)
The director, Pratibha Parmar, positions racist prejudice and violence against Asian women within the specific social context of England in the 1990s, and thereby reflects on the issues of racial and cultural identity of Asian women of mixed descent, and also on the relation between identity and representation. Unusually, she adopts magical realism for this intriguing film, which allows the possibility of different interpretations. (Kwon Eun-sun)
Director
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Pratibha PARMARPratibha PARMAR
One of the leading directors in documentary films, PARMAR has won numerous awards at many film festivals. Her major works are Kush (1990), which deals with race and sexuality issues in the UK, USA and India, A Place of Range (1991), which portrays the lives of human right activists, Angela DAVIS and June JORDAN, Warrior Marks (1993), Jodie: an Icon (1995), Wavelength’s (1998), Sita Gita (2000), Nina’s Heavenly Delights (2006), and Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth (2013).
