From July 2nd – 3rd September 2025, ICA London is presenting a season of Pratibha Parmar’s films in conjunction with Connecting Thin Black Lines 1985 – 2025. This film season celebrates the groundbreaking work of Pratibha Parmar, whose films have shaped the politics of feminist, queer, and diasporic visual cultures for over four decades. From experimental shorts to activist documentaries and feature-length works, Parmar’s cinematic language operates as an act of visual justice.’
On September 3rd a new publication on Parmar’s work will be launched, titled, Our Eyes As Commonly Tender, co-edited by season curator Nydia A. Swaby and Pratibha Parmar and co-produced by ICA and Sming Sming Books. The book features contributions from Rebecca Close, Lynnée Denise, Gayatri Gopinath, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Lubaina Himid, Alina Khakoo, Shamira Meghani, Lola Olufemi, Lucy Reynolds, and Nydia A. Swaby.
Pratibha Parmar is an award-winning filmmaker whose ground breaking films centre marginal stories in bold creative ways. She has collaborated on a film project with the Pulitzer Prize winning author Alice Walker, made a film on Angela Davis, one of the most wanted women by the FBI and stood on the stage at the iconic Castro theatre in San Francisco to receive a life time achievement award from the renowned African-American poet June Jordan. One of her first videos, Sari Red, lives in the permanent collection at MOMA in NYC and the Pompidou Centre in Paris. A globally recognised filmmaker and human rights activist her films, WARRIOR MARKS and KHUSH helped gain much needed rights for women and girls as well as contributing to the visibility of marginalized LGBT communities. My Name Is Andrea (2022) featuring Oscar nominated actors Ashley Judd and Andrea Riseborough premiered at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival to rave reviews from The New Yorker, Hollywood Reporter and NY Times. Sari Red and Reframing AIDS were included in the ground breaking exhibition, Women In Revolt at Tate Britain (2024-2025)
Her accomplishments have been recognized with multiple awards including the ICON Award for Outstanding Contribution to Indian and World Cinema, the Frameline Award for a significant and outstanding contribution to lesbian and gay media and the 2022 Mind the Gap award for helping to close the gender gap in film (other recipients include Viola Davies, Andrea Riseborough & Emerald Fennell).
Pratibha was a Visiting Artist at Stanford University in 2014 and has taught film in her capacity as an Associate Professor in the Film Program at California College of the Arts, San Francisco. Pratibha is author, co-author and editor of several books and essays.
Pratibha is a member of the Directors Guild of America, (DGA) and a voting member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. (AMPAS)
