Sita sings the blues follows in the line of triplets of belleville, spirited away, waltz with bashir, and persepolis to exemplify animation as a serious art form which does not stop it from being laughoutloud funny. Nina teaches at parsons school of design in manhattan and is a 2006 guggenheim fellow. Sita sings the blues by nina paley is licensed under a creative commons attributionshare alike 3. But we also sense from the film there is may be a hopeful side to all this. The aspect of the story that i focus on is the relationship between sita and rama, who are gods incarnated as human beings, and. Sita sings the blues is a mesmerizing and immensely entertaining movie that mixes a wide variety of animation styles in the service of the neat trick of pulling the epic ramayanawhich sounds. Nina paleys film sita sings the blues reveals the culture and values conveying a message of art across cultures and generations. Sita sings the blues is a 2008 animated feature film written, directed, produced and animated entirely by american artist nina paley with the exception of some fight animation by jake friedman in the.
Sita sings the blues is a film directed by nina paley with animation. The buoyancy of the storytelling through cutouts, collages, handpainted watercolors and photographs, along with some lilting indian music, cant help but lift our spirits. There are some movies that cannot be viewed separately from the story of their making citizen kane, apocalypse now, virtually anything directed by werner herzog and i feel that sita sings the blues is one of them. This inspired her first feature, sita sings the blues,which she animated and produced singlehandedly over the course of 5 years on a home computer. Sita sings the blues, nina paleys delightfully subversive feminist musical version of the ramayana, spans continents and millennia in parallel stories of two wives being unfairly dumped, one. Sita sings the blues 2008 tribeca film festival tribeca. Sita sings the blues is a retold story from the ancient hindu epic the ramayana about the hero rama and his faithful wife sita, and it is retold in. Want to know how i got a certain animated effect in sita sings the blues. The film deftly weaves together the indian ramayana, the heartbreaking failure of paleys own marriage, and the 1920s jazz of annette hanshaw. An animated film that has very low production values, yet every frame drips with inspiration. Flash authoring files for the featurelength animated film sita sings the blues all the flash authoring.
To book the film, contact gkids or shadow distribution. Sita sings the blues is a 2008 animated film written, directed, produced and animated entirely by american artist nina paley with the exception of some fight animation by jake friedman in the. She saw in the tale of ramayana, which the film juxtaposes with the story of ninas own divorce, the greatest breakup story ever told. Sita sings the blues vs narayans ramayana ppcc world. A feminist reading of sita sings the blues feminism in india. Sita sings the blues, begun in 2003 and released five years later, is a featurelength film that combined innovative animation with a sensitive evocation of both myth and memoir. Media center studio milstein 105c as always, pizza and snacks provided. Paley, 40, could have farmed out the writing, directing, editing, producing and animating of sita sings the blues. We are planning to hopefully launch a kickstarter campaign soon to bring about an official, highquality bluray printing of sita sings the blues.
The human experience is also involved, sita is not just a goddess nor is rama not just portrayed as a god. Sita sings the blues is a musical, animated personal interpretation of the indian epic the ramayana. The ramayana of valmiki is an epic poem portraying the ideal relationship between rama and sita. A panoply of monsters, gods, goddesses, warriors, sages, pyromaniac monkeys and winged eyeballs fills the screen with. This trailer doesnt begin to show how funny and brilliant this film which was created by nina paley truly is.
Nina paleys sita sings the blues turns a hindu goddess into betty. In it, paley experiments with what the medium of animation allows her to do both in representing the story of the epic and in incorporating elements from her own life experience. Sita sings the blues is a mesmerizing and immensely entertaining movie that mixes a wide variety of animation styles in the service of the neat. It is an unconventional animated musical that was completely produced by one person over the course of 5 years. From the shared culture it came, and back into the shared culture it goes. Also, it features three cleverly interwoven segments, involving unconditional love and being rejected by a.
And the ingenuity of sita which evokes painting, collage, underground comic books, mumbai musicals and yellow submarine for starters is dazzling. Nina is an animator whose husband moves to india, then dumps her by email. Why i cant just swap out the annette hanshaw songs in sita sings the blues. Traditionally the ramayana was a religious myth that mainly focused on the values of dharma. Instead, todays cinemas use dcp for digital cinema package hard drives. Sita sings the blues film, trailer, kritik kinozeit. Until i heard them, the ramayana was just another ancient indian epic to me. It is a jovial and permanently shifting retelling of. Nina paley born may 3, 1968 is an american cartoonist, animator and free culture activist. I carefully filed it with other movies i will watch when they introduce the 8day week. Nina paley created the unapologetically quirky, irreverent, and unconventionally animated film sita sings the blues after her own divorce from her husband. It was created by nina paley, and the film is, remarkably, almost a solo effort.
The opening title sequence to nina paleys sita sings the blues features indian goddess sita with the curves of planets in her animated beauty. Sita sings the blues is a marvel of imagination and ingenuity. Sita sings the blues is a 2008 animated adapation of the ramayana, created by the american artist nina paley. An animated version of the epic indian tale of ramayana set to the 1920s jazz vocals of annette hanshaw. After a run of film festivals, a film based on sanskrit epic sparks turmoil in new york. You dont need my permission to copy, share, publish, archive, show, sell, broadcast, or remix sita sings the blues. The whole film is split into four different segments that are interwoven around one another. Nina paleys sita sings the blues turns a hindu goddess. Sita sings the blues tells the story of rama and sita with a very interesting twist. Comparison of the epic poem and film leads to significant contradictions as the role of sita in both illustrates a different story. Sita sings the blues is a 2008 film written, produced and directed by nina paley, who also features in the film.
Nina paley has made this a very thought provoking movie. The movie is about sita, the hindu goddess from the epic the ramayana, who. Sita sings the blues 2008 cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Trailer for nina paleys animated feature, sita sings the blues, a.
Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved lord and husband rama. An animated musical romantic comedy drama about breakups, and the ramayana. Basically, it is based on ramayana an indian tale of 1920 and has a balanced between plentiful admiration which it repeatedly gains and the main theme has a. Sita sings the blues is a very independent animated film that portrays a portion of the hindu epic the ramayana.
How widely would the film be disseminated if it were limited by permission and fees. Sita sings the blues is a highly regarded independent animated film ive wanted to see since it was originally announced but despite an infectious energy and some humorous moments i was a little disappointed by the end results. She was the artist and often the writer of the comic strips ninas adventures and fluff, but most of her recent work has been in animation. The movie is about sita, the hindu goddess from the epic the ramayana, who accompanies lord rama on a 14 year exile in forest. This movie tells the story of rama and sita, alongwith a biographical account of the directors relationship with her husband. Conventional wisdom urges me to demand payment for every use of the film, but then. Paley puts a lot of emphasis on the unconditional and pure love sita has for rama. Sita sings the blues movie summary sita sing the blues is a webbased animated feature and is only one of. Sita sings the blues is a 2008 american animated musical romantic comedydrama film written, directed, produced and animated by american artist nina paley. The film tells the tragic story of sita, who was first kidnapped by ravana and then cast away twice by her husband rama on suspicions of infidelity.
Being dumped has longed served as a catalyst for artistic inspiration, but rarely has a dumpee turned their heartbreak into an end result as charming as sita sings the blues. For more about the film and about nina paleys other work, see. It intersperses events from the ramayana, lighthearted but knowledgeable discussion of historical background by a trio of indian shadow puppets, musical interludes voiced with tracks by annette hanshaw and scenes from the artists own life. Sita sings the blues is a 2008 american animated musical romantic comedy drama film written, directed, produced and animated by american artist nina paley. Buenos aires festival of film for children and youth usa 23 october 2009 san diego asian film festival usa 25 december 2009 new york city, new york uk. The film tells the tragic story of sita, who was first kidnapped by ravana and then cast away. As engaging as the film is, explaining it is tricky.
It was an version of the epic indian tale of ramayana set to the 1920s jazz. Sita sings the blues is based on the hindu epic the ramayana. It was an version of the epic indian tale of ramayana set to the 1920s jazz vocals of annette hanshaw. Nina paley took the ramayana and created a story that would cater to her own life and situation in sita sings the blues. Sita sings the blues 2008 movie picture download mm52. Paleys imaginative leaps and blend of styles are part and parcel of the films visual and aural originality. Technically, sita sings the blues is a wonderful achievement. Please distribute, copy, share, archive, and show sita sings the blues. She is perhaps best known for creating the animated feature film sita sings the blues, based on the ramayana, with parallels to her personal life.
Sita sings the blues is a mesmerizing and immensely entertaining movie that mixes a wide variety of animation styles in the service of the neat trick of pulling the epic ramayana which sounds. The film uses a pareddown adaptation of the legend that retains many of its finer details while orienting itself on a sympathetic perspective towards sita. There are a few differences that i noticed between the ramayana by narayan, and the depiction of it in sita sings the blues. Analysis of sita sings the blues 20 words bartleby. I got a dvd in the mail, an animated film titled sita sings the blues. Paley for film independents someone to watch honor, to be announced at the spirit awards next saturday. Sita sings the blues, nina paleys new animated film, is ambitious and visually loaded. Sita sings the blues original full movie 720p youtube.
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