Pro Tools
•Register a festival or a film
Submit film to festivals Promote for free or with Promo Packages

FILMFESTIVALS | 24/7 world wide coverage

Welcome !

Enjoy the best of both worlds: Film & Festival News, exploring the best of the film festivals community.  

Launched in 1995, relentlessly connecting films to festivals, documenting and promoting festivals worldwide.

Working on an upgrade soon.

For collaboration, editorial contributions, or publicity, please send us an email here

User login

|FRENCH VERSION|

RSS Feeds 

Martin Scorsese Masterclass in Cannes

 

 

 

Sita (and Nina) Sing the Blues, but not for Long

Sita opened the San Francisco International Animation Film Festival this weekend, where I got to see it, and where director Nina Paley (check her blog) and Sound Designer Greg Sextro were in attendance for some q & a.

IFC Film Center, New York, Sunday Nov. 9, 2008. Photo by Ken Levis.

Paley introduced her movie, and having lived in the Bay Area before, she was awe-struck to be back introducing a movie she made. "It's really weird to be in this position. I've been to so many movies at the Embarcadero Cinema, and this is the only one I've been to where I'm standing up here," she said.

 

 

The film opens with a sort of music video, and the animation and music were immediately so much like nothing I'd seen before that I wondered what I was in for. Soon enough the soothing visuals and music lured me into relaxation and I was entranced. In short, Sita Sings the Blues is: about the Indian Epic the Ramayana, and Nina Paley's break up with her husband. Sweet blusey songs of Annette Hanshaw accompany the story, and it's told through different styles of animation, mainly flash, that Paley did all on her own. It's the first feature length work of animator Nina Paley, though she has been animating since 1998 and has a series of other short works.

To me, the movie is special for many reasons.

One reason is that the story of the Ramayana is told not only through the main characters Sita and her Rama, but also by three shadow puppet narrators who fill in the blanks, explaining the story for audience. Their seemingly on
the spot narration and forgetfulness is endearing and relatable, and provides a lot of laugh out loud moments.

We learned from Paley in the Q&A that, as it seemed, these narrators weren't scripted, but friends
of Paley's who she asked questions to in the studio one day.

You may be wondering right now how Paley's break-up, the Ramayana, and Annette Hanshaw have anything to do
with one another.

In quite an interesting and random way actually.

1- Paley's husband moved to India, she moved after him, then he broke up with her in an email.

2- While in India, she discovered the Indian story of Ramayana.

3- Back in New York after the dump, she was crashing at a friend's house who had a record player, were
she discovered the music of Annette Hanshaw.

Lucky thing all of these events happened, because together they birthed Sita Sings the Blues.

I had read in Paley's blog that with this film she wasn't aiming to make a children's movie, but during it I didn't see anything that I thought wasn't fit for children, so when I had the chance I asked Paley how she felt about children watching it. She said she thought it was fine for children, but that some people didn't.

I also asked her if she recommends storytelling through entertainment as a form of healing- since she told the story of her hard break up through this movie that's now showing in festivals across the world.
She said she just recommends art as expression.

Other Press the film is getting creates controversy around Paley's "feminist recontextualization" of the Ramayan, how it's offensive to some, disrespecting Rama. But Paley says for the most part the response to the
film has been very positive.

Hopefully it's playing at a festival near you! Get out and see it. Or email Paley for your own copy.

She says her next film will be about free speech.

 

Links

The Bulletin Board

> The Bulletin Board Blog
> Partner festivals calling now
> Call for Entry Channel
> Film Showcase
>
 The Best for Fests

Meet our Fest Partners 

Following News

Interview with EFM (Berlin) Director

 

 

Interview with IFTA Chairman (AFM)

 

 

Interview with Cannes Marche du Film Director

 

 

 

Filmfestivals.com dailies live coverage from

> Live from India 
> Live from LA
Beyond Borders
> Locarno
> Toronto
> Venice
> San Sebastian

> AFM
> Tallinn Black Nights 
> Red Sea International Film Festival

> Palm Springs Film Festival
> Kustendorf
> Rotterdam
> Sundance
Santa Barbara Film Festival SBIFF
> Berlin / EFM 
> Fantasporto
Amdocs
Houston WorldFest 
> Julien Dubuque International Film Festival
Cannes / Marche du Film 

 

 

Useful links for the indies:

Big files transfer
> Celebrities / Headlines / News / Gossip
> Clients References
> Crowd Funding
> Deals

> Festivals Trailers Park
> Film Commissions 
> Film Schools
> Financing
> Independent Filmmaking
> Motion Picture Companies and Studios
> Movie Sites
> Movie Theatre Programs
> Music/Soundtracks 
> Posters and Collectibles
> Professional Resources
> Screenwriting
> Search Engines
> Self Distribution
> Search sites – Entertainment
> Short film
> Streaming Solutions
> Submit to festivals
> Videos, DVDs
> Web Magazines and TV

 

> Other resources

+ SUBSCRIBE to the weekly Newsletter
+ Connecting film to fest: Marketing & Promotion
Special offers and discounts
Festival Waiver service
 

User images

About Elisabeth

Bartlett Elisabeth
Blogging about the festival scene from Los Angeles

Los Angeles

United States



View my profile
Send me a message
gersbach.net