
Meena Nanji
Directing
Biography
Meena Nanji has produced and directed a number of short experimental and documentary works which generally focus on the global migrations of post-colonial peoples. Her work has been recognized by the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, Paul Robeson Fund, Pacific Pioneer Fund and Women in Film Foundation, among others. Her award-winning videos have screened at film festivals and been broadcast worldwide. Nanji has curated and coordinated film festivals, served as a juror on grant-giving organizations, and has guest-lectured at universities and conferences around the world. She is also a freelance writer with articles appearing in the Los Angeles Times, UN Daily Journal and Xtra, among others.
Known For

In the 1960s, Afghan women were granted new rights and freedoms, but the Taliban's later rise to power confined them to servitude and oppression. This documentary follows three independent-minded women from 2000 to 2003. Teacher Shapiray Hassan and doctor Roeena Mohmand both work at a refugee camp in Pakistan, while Wajia advocates for the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. All three struggle to establish equality for women in contemporary Afghan society.
View from a Grain of Sand

A multiple award winner, this experimental tape explores the psychological ramifications of a woman growing up under orthodox Islamic law. Resisting traditional definitions of a woman’s role in society as first and foremost a dutiful daughter or wife, Nanji struggles to find a space amidst the web of restrictive familial and societal conventions.
Voices of the Morning

Looking for Another Girl is a short music video about a girl who is, well, looking for another one. It's a tongue in cheek take on lesbian dating set to the tune of "New England" by Billy Bragg, with a few of the lyrics irrevocably changed!
Looking for Another Girl

Wanjugu Kimathi is the daughter of Dedan Kimathi, legendary leader of the Kenyan Land and Freedom Army, or Mau Mau. This resistance group fought the British colonial regime from 1952 to 1960 to stop it from confiscating land, a conflict known as the Mau Mau Rebellion. In 1957, the British authorities hanged Dedan for possession of firearms, and then dumped his body at an unknown location.
Our Land, Our Freedom

Using footage from mainstream British and Hollywood films, and excerpts from a poem by Shani Mootoo, this video explores the impact of cultural imperialism and the erasure of language—residual tools of oppression on members of post-colonial societies.
It Is a Crime
The Gnawa inhabit ordinary and non-ordinary worlds, their music and song creating spaces passageways between the two. This experimental non-fiction video gives a glimpse of such a passage through a brief encounter with Mustafa, a musician who lives in Rabat, Morocco.