Cynthia Madansky is an award-winning filmmaker and painter. Her films integrate hybrid forms of cinematic traditions including autobiography, experimental methodologies, cinema verité, scripted narrative, ethnographic observation, as well as dance and performance. The work engages with cultural and political themes, such as identity, nationalism, the transgression of borders, displacement, nuclear arms, and war, foregrounding the human experience and personal testimony. Using 16mm, super 8, and video, her films portray the consequences of politics on the daily lives of individuals, interrogating the concept of personal responsibility and national accountability.
Over a period of 30 years she has produced 28 films that have been presented as single-channel films and multi-screen installations and projections. Her films have screened at international museums, art spaces, and festivals including the Museum of Modern Art, The Walker Art Museum, Istanbul Modern, the MAXXI, The Rotterdam Film Festival, The Berlin Film Festival, The Iran International Documentary Festival, The Jerusalem International Film Festival, The Margaret Mead Film Festival, Cinema du Réel, Oberhausen, Transmediale, Viennale, San Francisco International Film Festival, Homeworks Beirut, and many international Human Rights film festivals.
Madansky has been awarded numerous grants, fellowships, and residencies including, The Wurlitzer Foundation (2020, 2017), Fulbright (2019), The Guggenheim Fellowship (2017), The American Academy in Rome (2014-2015), Art Omi (2014), Art Matters (2011, 1990, 1989), NYSCA (2011, 2009, 2006, 1999), and UCROSS (2001).
