Media Contact: Barbara Saxon, (619) 534-4618, bsaxon@ucsd.edu or
                            Jan Jennings, (619) 822-1684, jnjennings@ucsd.edu

BRITISH-INDIAN FILM MAKER TO SCREEN TWO FILMS APRIL 8 AS REGENTS' LECTURER IN DEPARTMENT OF LITERATURE AT UCSD

Pratibha Parmar, internationally acclaimed British-Indian film maker, will visit the Department of Literature at the University of California, San Diego as a Regents' Lecturer April 5 through April 9.  Parmar will screen two of her films, The Righteous Babes and Brimful of Asia, beginning at 4 p.m. April 8 in UCSD's Visual Arts Facility Performance Space.  A question and answer session will follow.  The event is free and open to the public.

The Righteous Babes is a 50-minute documentary arguing that feminism is very much alive in popular culture through the music of significant female artists.  Artists featured include Sinead O'Connor.  Interviewed spokespersons include Gloria Steinem.  Of the film, Ithaca College's Patricia R. Zimmermann, author of Reel Families: A Social History of Amateur Film, writes: "The righteous rage of The Righteous Babes tears the cobwebs off feminism: these fierce rock divas roll it out of the libraries and into packed concert halls.  A sexy, invigorating must-see for riot girls everywhere - and for anyone who thinks feminism is dead."

Brimful of Asia is a 24-minute documentary about the explosion of second generation Asian talent in the mainstream British culture and features musicians, fashion designers and writers.

Parmar is a highly profiled film maker within the international community of lesbian and gay culture.  She has received awards from film groups as diverse as San Francisco's gay and lesbian film festival organizer Frameline, the National Black Programming Consortium, and the Paris Lesbian Film Festival.  She has presented her work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Walker Art Centre.

Parmar's film credits include Warrior Marks, made in collaboration with Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Alice Walker.  The film won prizes in 1994 at film festivals in Paris and Madrid.   Parmar and Walker co-authored a book, Warrior Marks, about the making of the film, published by Jonathan Cape in England and Harcourt Brace in the United States.

Parmar also produced JODIE, a documentary film celebrating Hollywood actress Jodie Foster as an icon for lesbians.  It won the Prix du Public at the Lesbian Film Festival in Paris in 1996.

Parmar received her master's degree in cultural studies from the University of Birmingham.  She has produced and directed numerous other films, and her writings and films are used extensively in Women's Studies, Film Studies, and Queer Studies courses in the United States and in England.  During her Regents' Lecturer visit Parmar also will look in on classes and meet with graduate students.  Her visit is sponsored by the UCSD Department of Literature.  For further information, call the department at 534-4618.