Originally released in 1991, Nina Menkes’ subversive drama “Queen of Diamonds” was heralded as a feminist masterwork. Now the film about a struggling Blackjack dealer is getting a second life. A newly restored version of the pic will be screening on November 10 at AFI Fest, where Menkes will be giving a talk on how women are disempowered on screen. Those who can’t attend the Hollywood fest will also have the opportunity to watch the film. Arbelos has acquired world rights to “Queen of Diamonds,” and will be releasing the film theatrically in spring of 2019, with VOD and Blu-ray to follow.
Set in Las Vegas, “Queen of Diamonds” tells the story of Firdaus (Tinka Menkes), a Blackjack dealer contending with a missing husband and neighboring domestic violence. Her “world unfolds as a fragmented but hypnotic interplay between repetition and repressed anger,” the film’s synopsis details.
“’Queen of Diamonds’ is my very personal portrait of the U.S.: an over-enlarged, profit-motivated core surrounded by mute and arid alienation,” said Menkes. “The female protagonist is both deeply estranged and psychically powerful. Her loner position is the backside of centuries of Western Heroes: she stands in the center as watcher and victim of a system which is starting to crack.” She continued, “The film polarized audiences when it came out in 1991. I’m thrilled about the new restoration and curious to hear reactions from a new generation of movie goers!”
Eos World Fund (EOS), a global initiative that supports women directors, is co-presenting the film at AFI Fest.
“Nina Menkes’ films have broken new ground in cinematic language; she is one of America’s great auteurs. From the time of her first films unspooled, Menkes has been compared to Michelangelo Antonioni and David Lynch. She has created powerful points of view and startlingly, provocative imagery like no one else in cinema,” said Eos World Fund founder Gwen Wynne.
Menkes’ next film, “Minotaur Rex,” is slated to start production next year. Her other credits include “The Great Sadness of Zohara” and “The Bloody Child.”
The new restoration of “Queen of Diamonds” is by The Academy Film Archive and The Film Foundation, with funding provided by The George Lucas Foundation.
