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.
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.
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.
Pratibha Parmar on the set of season four of Queen Sugar.
Her accomplishments have been recognized with multiple awards.
In 2016 she was voted one of 100 inspirational women by the BBC. Other awards include 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).
In 2024 Pratibha’s two films, Sari Red and Reframing AIDS were included in the ground breaking exhibition, Women In Revolt at Tate Britain, currently touring the U.K.
In 2019 Pratibha made her US debut as a director of scripted television when she was invited by Ava DuVernay to direct an episode of QUEEN SUGAR, executive produced by Ava DuVernay & Oprah Winfrey for OWN/Warner Brothers. In 2022, Pratibha directed an episode of the iconic show Law & Order: SVU for NBC.
She was invited as 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)
