Twende: Swahili: twendé inflected verb: meaning: Let’s Go!
BIO
Twende Pictures was founded by Meena Nanji. She was born in Kenya and is an award-winning filmmaker who has produced, written and directed independent documentaries, experimental videos and short narratives. Her work has screened at film festivals and broadcast on global television. She is a recipient of several prestigious grants, including from IDFA, Rockefeller Foundation Media Arts Fellowship, National Endowment of the Arts, Center for Asian American Media,Women in Film Foundation and Durfee Foundation. She has also been invited to guest – lecture at universities and film festivals around the world. Meena has programmed/curated film/video festivals and screenings, and has been a juror on grant-giving organizations including the Rockefeller Foundation Media Grant, Center for Asian American Media, Durfee Foundation, and for film festivals. She has also taught at University of California, Santa Barbara and Otis Parsons School of Art and Design, Los Angeles. She is a Bellagio Residency Rockefeller Foundation Fellow, the Reykjavic Film Festival Directing Lab in Iceland, a Film Independent, Project Involve Lab Fellow, Los Angeles.
She has programmed film and video festivals including Outfest, programs at the LA Asian American Film Festival, San Francisco Asian American Festival as well as curated screenings at various venues around the world. She was Lead Mentor at Mira Nair’s Maisha Film Lab in Kampala, Uganda. She was a founding member of ArtWallah, L.A’s South Asian Arts Festival and, together with Amie Williams, is a co-founder of GlobalGirl Media, a non-profit organization that trains girls from underrepresented communities of the world in digital media and citizen journalism. She is currently on the Board of the Santa Monica Arts Foundation in Los Angeles.
Distributors
New Day Films [USA]
Journeyman Pictures [UK]
Women Make Movies [USA]
Video Data Bank [USA]
V-Tape [Canada]
Blink Video [Germany]