sita sings the blues
i love
sita sings the blues
. a beautifully done movie: )
crying a river: a scene from the animated feature “sita sings the blues. ”
sita traveling with rama and hanuman in the 2008 animated film “sita sings the blues” directed by nina paley .
nina paley mixes the ramayana, blues songs and her personal tale of heartbreak in sita sings the blues. courtesy nina paley
rama about to be crowned as the new king. nina paley ” sita sings the blues”
sita sings the blues can be watched or downloaded for free from the filmmaker' s website .
idyllic life of nina, dave and lexi the cat. nina paley ” sita sings the blues”
a scene from the animated feature sita sings the blues,  written and directed by nina paley .
sita sings the blues, ramayana. by nina paley (the greatest break up story ever told )
the shadow puppets trying to remember exact names of the ramayana characters. nina paley ” sita sings the blues”
sita sings the blues, ramayana. by nina paley (the greatest break up story ever told) - youtube
mix - sita sings the blues, ramayana. by nina paley (the greatest break up story ever told )
… we would like to bring to your attention that ‘sita sings the blues’ denigrates hindus’ revered scripture ramayan, and deities rama and sita .
looking for movie tickets? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing sita sings the blues near you .
sita sings the blues. tenerife espacio de las artes (tenerife arts place). canary islands, february 2013. poster
i am hereby changing sita sings the blues ‘ cc - by - sa (share alike) license to cc - 0 .
last week, the beautiful animated movie sita sings the blues was going to be screened at starlight pavilion in queens, new york .
see the sita sites page for the complete, community - maintained list of where sita sings the blues can be found online. below is a sampling from that page :
nina paley' s delicious sita sings the blues finds solace in autobiography and an animated gold mine in the caverns of an ancient sanskrit epic .
[ … ] will others take action like nina paley? ahimsa: sita sings the blues now cc - 0 “public domain”. [ … ]
i’d still love sita to be offered through netflix’s online channels; if they ever offer drm - free video - on - demand, i hope they remember sita sings the blues .
there is an award winning film called
sita sings the blues
available to watch for free on youtube. you can read about the film here :
you are not free to copy - restrict (“copyright”) or attach digital restrictions management (drm) to sita sings the blues or its derivative works .
so, some months go by and another friend mentions sita sings the blues. i shine it on by telling myself i’m too busy to watch it .
sita sings the blues is going to be broadcast on new york pbs station wnet channel 13 on saturday march 7 at 10: 45pm on the series reel13 .
“i hereby give sita sings the blues to you. like all culture, it belongs to you already, but i am making it explicit. please distribute, copy, share, archive, and show sita sings the blues. from the shared culture it came, and back into the shared culture it goes. ”
sita sings the blues is a creative retelling of the hindu epic the ramayana. the story focuses on the relationship between rama and sita and presents the story very much from sita’s perspective. through her thoughts, the songs she sings, and a contemporary analog, we’re presented with a sympathetic and compassionate view of the character .
roger ebert has discovered nina paley’s sita sings the blues and he’s written a lengthy piece raving about how wonderful it is. among other things, he writes :
nina paley plans to publish much of her work, including “nina’s adventures”, and all original work in sita sings the blues, under a copyleft license. the website for sita sings the blues include a wiki where its fans contributed translated subtitles for the dvd of the film. on january 18, 2013, nina posted on her blog that the copyright license for sita sings the blues was switched from cc - by - sa to cc - 0, thus placing the work into the work into the public domain .
i' d still love sita to be offered through netflix' s online channels; if they ever offer drm - free video - on - demand, i hope they remember sita sings the blues .
[ … ] nina paley on why she turned down a deal with netflix for sita sings the blues. it’s a gorgeous film and you can watch or [ … ]
it turns out that sita sings the blues is profound; a compelling, original, dynamic, beautiful, hilariously funny and deeply sacred retelling of the ramayana with surprising touches .
all illustrations are taken from the film sita sings the blues and were created by nina paley, also under the terms of the creative commons attribution - sharealike license, version 3. 0 .
i just wanted to take the time to thank you so much for such a brilliant film. sita sings the blues has been my all time favorite animated film since its release. i have purchased a few copies from you and shared it with wonderful compliments. despite some of the hardships in releasing sita sings the blues, it has been a treasure and honor to view .
[ … ] is the director of the 2008 full - length animated film sita sings the blues which she released in public domain in 2013. the film narrated the indian epic poem ramayana by [ … ]
a :
sita sings the blues
is released under a creative commons share alike license, which means there are no exclusive rights to be granted. you are already free to broadcast
sita
— everyone has that right .
sita sings the blues is a movie starring annette hanshaw, aseem chhabra, and bhavana nagulapally. an animated version of the epic indian tale of ramayana set to the 1920s jazz vocals of annette hanshaw .
ever seen hanuman pluck a double bass? animator nina paley has created a witty, ’20s jazz musical version of the ramayana, sita sings the blues (via turbanhead). her lovely, highly stylized characters evoke betty boop, amul butter ads and ghee happy, and sita is voiced by ’20s blues singer annette hanshaw .
sita sings the blues, which retells the ramayana in contemporary fashion, is one of those. who would think that it would be possible to bring together an old indian story of heroes, battles and lovers together with blues music from the 20s, and that within a cartoon setting ?
[ … ] paley, creator of the fantastic animated film sita sings the blues, is still fighting the copyright fight. her crusade for copylefting is noble, courageous and extremely frustrating. if you haven’t [ … ]
[ … ] a lot of authors aren’t in agreement. film maker nina paley turned down an offer from netflix to distribute her film sita sings the blues because netflix refused to distribute it without [ … ]
last week in queens, young hindu - american organized a screening and discussion of an animated film called
sita sings the blues ,
to draw other young hindus and sikhs into conversation about their faiths .
sita sings the blues is an animated film inspired by the director, nina paley’s, break - up with her husband. after she faced the sadness from her failed marriage, she became connected to the stories within the ramayana, particularly the story of sita, the wife of the worshipped king rama .
“attacking this film is an act of such ignorance and small - mindedness when hinduism is expansive and lends itself to unlimited questioning by its adherents. as a hindu raised by devout hindu parents and raising three hindu sons, i have to say that the people who have a problem with sita sings the blues do not represent me. in fact, sita sings the blues is a wonderful way to keep hindu mythology alive. ”
sita sings the blues has surrounded the areas of religion and culture, but unfortunately these issues have come secondary to the issue here in america. what is being held in scrutiny here is copyright. who owns this movie ?
the greatest irony about sita sings the blues is the copyright bind that it falls into. this is an arcane situation, owing to the bizarreness of the retroactive - active copyright extensions foisted upon the us public in the 1998 copyright term extension act .
any chance you folks are tuned into… [ the ] desi music scene in ny? i’m desperately seeking a composer / remixer to do remixes and additional music for “sita sings the blues. ” please let me know !
so, to the nfb, to netflix, to all you publishers and broadcasters, to you legions of fucking lawyers: sita sings the blues is now in the public domain. you have no excuse for suppressing it now .
don’t get the impression that sita sings the blues is a faithful adaptation of the ramayana or an unchallenged portrayal of sita. this isn’t a cliff’s notes version of the epic. it’s one person’s interpretation of certain events and characters and how that story has parallels to her own life and experience .
my feature film, sita sings the blues, was removed from german youtube. i' m aware of no standard protocol for americans to contest fraudulent takedowns in germany, so i made this video. hopefully german youtube will put sita sings the blues back up. or maybe gema' s censor - bots will take this video down, because i intentionally used the same music / movie clips in it! germans: can you see this? urltoken
nina paley: sita sings the blues is a musical, animated personal interpretation of the indian epic the ramayana. the aspect of the story that i focus on is the relationship between sita and rama, who are gods incarnated as human beings, and even they can' t make their marriage work [ laughs ] .
the audience for
sita sings the blues
might be a tiny fraction of
coraline
and
up ,
but nina paley' s effortlessly cross - cultural and totally original animated feature should be considered with the same lofty regard .
sen is talking about the songs of indian village women, but she could just as easily been talking about american blues. that is the point of sita sings the blues: we all struggle with this story, which connects humans through time, space and culture, whether we' re aware of it or not. just as the ramayana has mostly been written down and controlled by men, the songs in sita sings the blues were mostly written by men; but sung by a woman - hanshaw - they pack an emotional wallop and express a woman' s voice .
[ … ] a bit too much like an adult reading a story to a child–can be jarring. waltz with bashir and sita sings the blues are two films that had better success in combining conventional animation with complex stories [ … ]
this entry was posted in archive: feature films, from the archives and tagged annette hanshaw, comedy, diversity, drama, nina paley, religion, representation, sita sings the blues, traditional animation, women of colour. bookmark the permalink .
i just finished watching the independent spirit awards and just found out about sita sings the blues. as an artist and a lover of hindu and indian art, i have to see this film. the stills above are gorgeous and rendered beautifully. i am also a blues lover and am totally intrigued by this. have to rent the dvd !
i am hereby changing sita sings the blues‘ cc - by - sa (share alike) license to cc - 0. a few years ago i started thinking about taking a vow of non - violence: a commitment to ...
several local hindu organizations joined forces aug. 6 to protest the san jose museum of art’s screening of nina paley’s 2008 animated film, “sita sings the blues” - which intersperses events from the indian epic ramayana with the artist’s own life - at the camera 12 theater here .
several local hindu organizations joined forces aug. 6 to protest the san jose museum of art’s screening of nina paley’s 2008 animated film, “sita sings the blues” — which intersperses events from the indian epic ramayana with the artist’s own life — at the camera 12 theater here .
sita sings the blues ,
nina paley' s delightfully subversive feminist musical version of the
ramayana ,
spans continents and millennia in parallel stories of two wives being unfairly dumped, one in the american autobiographical present, the other in the mythical indian past .
sita sings the blues is an animated film which weaves together the stories of two doomed marriages using a remarkable variety of animation styles, heartfelt and humorous storytelling, and dazzling musical segments. it was written and directed by cartoonist and animator nina paley .
that means you can donate to help with the costs of getting
sita sings the blues
out of copyright jail (see below), and your donation will be 100% tax - deductible in the u. s. to the extent permitted by law .
[ … ] you: sita sings the blues. this, folks, is a perfect example of why current copyright law blows. seriously. also, che, unless you’re in a city that got the roadshow edition. screw the two part [ … ]
an animation movie directed by american artist nina paley in 2008, sita sings the blues tells us the story of ramayana, interspersed with episodes of the author’s own life. a delightful watch, the film has simple yet charming animation that easily strikes a chord with the viewer .
sita sings the blues is a film i will watch over and over again, not only because it’s visually stunning and an inspiring story, but because it’s like stepping into another universe for a little while, and drinking deeply at the well of timelessness, courtesy of the rishi valmiki, rama, sita and hanuman .
i just saw sita sings the blues on a dvd we rented from netflicks. i agree, i’m glad i saw the movie on our oversized screen. i loved it! thank you for being so fun, creative, and sensitive to the underlying story. bill
one remarkable thing about
sita sings the blues
is how versatile the animation is. consider sita' s curvaceous southern hemisphere. when she sings an upbeat or sexy song, it rotates like a seductive pendulum. look at those synchronized birds overhead. when they return they have a surprise, and they get a surprise. regard the marching greybeards. watch hanuman' s dragging tail set a palace on fire .
[ … ] thinking about doing this for a while; aaron’s death and — more specifically — nina paley’s release of sita sings the blues as cc0 have pushed me into doing it. i’ve encountered the same issues she has — people ask me [ … ]
nina paley is an american cartoonist, animator, and free culture activist. she directed the animated feature film sita sings the blues. she was the artist and often the writer of comic strips nina’s adventures and fluff, but most of her recent work has been in animation .
to sum up ,
sita sings the blues
is based on an adaptation of the the ramayana, a hindu epic, and some hindus find the film offensive. an organized (lawful and peaceful) protest caused the venue to cancel the showing, which later took place in a private home .
“sita sings the blues, ” nina paley’s delightfully subversive feminist musical version of the “ramayana, ” spans continents and millennia in parallel stories of two wives being unfairly dumped, one in the american autobiographical present, the other in the mythical indian past. punctuated with classic bluesy ballads mouthed by a highly stylized betty boop - ish “sita” and sung [ … ]
11. false representation: sita sings a song saying ‘ram is mean to me’ and lord ram is depicted kicking sita into the fire at the time of her agnipariksha (test by fire) and he kicks her at the time of banishing her from the kingdom. lord ram nonchalantly also walks over sita’s pregnant stomach
nina paley was not looking for an international controversy. nevertheless, in april, when the now 40 - year - old jewish cartoonist screened her latest film, “sita sings the blues, ” at this year’s tribeca film festival, she said that’s precisely what she got .
he isn’t alone: sunita viswanath, board member at the non - profit women for afghan women, told me: “attacking this film is an act of such ignorance and small - mindedness when hinduism is expansive and lends itself to unlimited questioning by its adherents. as a hindu raised by devout hindu parents and raising three hindu sons, i have to say that the people who have a problem with sita sings the blues do not represent me. in fact, sita sings the blues is a wonderful way to keep hindu mythology alive. ”
. i did not think that sita should come in the film in the form of a woman. that is why sita appeared in the film as
at its heart, sita sings the blues is an animated and multilayered retelling of the indian epic, the ramayana. the tag line for sita is “the greatest break - up story ever told”, and paley intertwines words and images from the ramayana, and of rama and sita, with ones from the dissolution of her own marriage (although in the film itself it isn' t clear if the characters of dave and nina are married or cohabiting) .
sita sings the blues by nina paley is licensed under a creative commons attribution - share alike 3. 0 united states license. based on a work at urltoken. permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http: / / urltoken / license. html .
sita' s role is to suffer, especially through loving a man who rejects her. women especially connect emotionally to her story and these emotions are clearly expressed in songs. as nabaneeta dev sen writes in
lady sings the blues: when women retell the ramayana
:
nevertheless, the artistic techniques of the film have truly been praised and awarded. sita sings the blues is an award - winning film that was screened in over 150 film festivals and on the pbs network. the filmmaker magazine says it’s “the type of low - fi animated musical that puts disney to shame. ”
uncut and in full hd! urltoken sita sings the blues is a musical, animated personal interpretation of the indian epic the ramayana. the aspect of the story that i focus on is the relationship between sita and rama, who are gods incarnated as human beings, and even they can' t make their marriage work. urltoken lice... urltoken dona ...
the response so far has been tremendous, and gratifying to nina as well. but we' ve still got a long way to go. if you liked
sita sings the blues
, and liked the fact that you can make copies for all your friends, please consider donating .
schmader, david .
cinematic ravishment; or, the third dimension is overrated; or, ignore my babbling and just go see sita sings the blues at central cinema tonight
. slog. may 20, 2009. thestranger. com. accessed june 1, 2009. urltoken ​
ramsitagods, nina paley | cc by - sa last week, the wall street journal posted a fascinating article on the profits made by nina paley for her film sita sings the blues. widely available for free online under a creative commons attribution - share alike license, sita has garnered $ 55, 000 to date, an impressive amount for a film that …
[ … ] and animator nina paley asked them to stream her film “sita sings the blues“drm - free, they told her it wasn’t possible with their electronic delivery system. they also refused to allow her to add a notice telling viewers where they could find and download [ … ]
i just seen your cartoon ‘sita sings the blues’ and i was horrified to see that how you have misused your freedom of expression. you must be an good artist and you are free to express but at least you should not twist the facts and scripture just to make your movie nice .
a screening of “sita sings the blues” was cancelled last month at the starlight pavilion in new york, after the forum for hindu awakening and the hindu janajagruti samiti sent more than 1, 000 e - mails protesting the event to 26 - year - old organizer rohan narine. the film was shown at narine’s parents’ home instead .
you know you’re in for a treat the minute you see the level of animation in sita sings the blues. it’s cute and simple and yet incorporates multiple layers to tell one legendary story. paley has found a way to mix the two most strikingly opposite forms of art – the blues and traditional indian mythology in a way that lends to the flavour of the film. it’s a set of vibrant versions of the ramayana that should not be missed .
nina paley' s sita sings the blues, which makes its north american premiere friday at the festival, tells two parallel stories: the ancient hindu epic the ramayana and the breakup of paley' s 21st - century marriage. it does so through four distinct styles of animation, a
greek chorus
of indonesian shadow puppets and wildly imaginative musical interludes that use authentic 1920s blues recordings to link narratives 3, 000 years apart .
a few months ago, a friend of mine suggested i see an animated movie called sita sings the blues — he even went so far as to bring a netflix dvd over and leave it in the temple where i live. “just send it back once you’ve seen it, ” he told me .
nina paley was approached by netflix to offer her amazing animated feature sita sings the blues on their streaming service. sita retells the saga of rama and incorporates some vintage jazz, to marvellous effect. in order to clear this old jazz music, paley had to go through an enormous rigamarole, and this experience has turned her into an advocate for a more liberal copyright .
tags: female directors, female writers, films by women, indian women, myrna waldron, nina paley, religion, sita sings the blues, uncategorized, women of color, women of color week bookmark the permalink. follow comments with the rss feed for this post. both comments and trackbacks are closed .
since then nina paley had added episodes and other material to her work, which is now called sita sings the blues, thus expanding it into the feature - length treatment of the ramayana focused on rama’s wife, sita, using a variety of animation styles and techniques. many of the episodes have appeared in recent animation festivals. the finished work premiered at the berlin internation film festival on february 11, 2008 .
i think the film has amazing graphic style which is inspiring. hinduism has survived for so many years only because we have been open minded towards various opinions / visualizations of gods and goddesses. i am working on my thesis project which is also very stylized and music - based like ‘sita sings the blues’ .
. but aravindan took the extraordinary cinematic step of representing sita as prakriti .
thoraval 1977 kanchana sita: the equation of woman with nature, p. 402
sita sings the blues is fresh, delightful, original, and disturbingly stark with its juxtaposed narrative style of music, dialogues, monologues and one - of - a - kind animation. watch it to be amused, enchanted, moved and empowered. it is a work of sheer brilliance and inspiration .
there are many reasons why people see the films that they do. story. stars. genre. source material. curiosity about how a film was made. nina paley' s sita sings the blues highlights another, more unusual reason, but one likely to become more common: how a film is distributed .
sita sings the blues is a crowning achievement of animation over the last decade, and it’s a film that really deserves to be seen by as large an audience as possible. if you’ve not seen it already, there’s really no excuse for you not to rectify that immediately. it couldn’t be easier to watch .
in sita sings the blues, there are three layers of narrative – sita’s legend, outsiders’ comment on sita’s story and the author’s own experience of breaking up with her boyfriend. the author employed different styles of drawing to separate the three layers; and in each layer the painting style is also varied to differentiate the narrator. for example, in sita’s story, the author uses realistic, indian classical drawing style in the objective narrative, whereas in the music part where sita sings her own feeling, we see simplified and modern drawing lines. it reminds me of some bollywood movies in which the songs and dances are weaved into the feature films. usually these songs and dances have little to do with the development of the plot, but they are serviceable transitions between huge plot changes in indian - featured movies. i like the music in sita sings the blues. “rama is right”, the adaption of “apple round, apple red”, is especially ironic. it suggests her stance in the story ramayana and her broken relationship. i think i can learn a lot from the author’s employment of different painting style and music in terms of distinguishing the narrator and emotional change .
to take the story forward, simple flat cut - out animation is used, and characters speak in typically thick indian accents, and laugh or cry hysterically while the camera zooms in into their faces as they stare agape and a sudden loud musical chord is struck; a clear spoof of the old fashioned soap - operatic storytelling. when sita breaks into the blues songs, the animation changes into flat round caricatures, with sita being an exceptionally buxom woman who sings blues, of course, with playback singing by annette hanshaw .
sita sing the blues has a few endorsed dvd distributors. in addition to urltoken and myself, there’s filmkaravan, a distribution collective that handles “downstream” deals with vistaindia and indiepix. their ...
while the character sita performs its like shes actually annette hanshaw. annette hanshaws recordings from the 1920s are mainly used for the soundtrack which gives sita a kinda of flapper effect .
while the transformation of sita sings the blues into a free culture case study happened most immediately because of legal issues involving the songs sung by hanshaw, even without that impetus, it is not hard to see how nina paley could go from this film to activist. sita sings the blues borrows, splices, and mixes influences from multiple sources, incorporating different versions of the ramayana, using the shadow puppets as a nod to the already trans - national nature of the old story, and combining different styles in both the music and animation to tell its own story. the film is an exemplar of remix culture, freely and openly showing its roots and influences, but in the service of a clearly original work .
partly out of her own experience with copyright and songs featured in the film, paley has released sita sings the blues under a creative commons attribution - share alike license, which allows others to freely view, distribute, and create with her movie. this has made her and her film leading figures in the free culture movement. the political import of her film has drawn attention to her work, but also, arguably, overshadowed it, which is too bad, if not unfortunate, because sita sings the blues is a beautiful and vibrant film that should be seen as much for its own merits as for what it represents in ongoing struggles over the copyright system .
the activists began their rally mid - morning on the steps of the museum, and then marched two blocks over to camera 12, carrying signs exhorting paley not to blame hinduism for her failed marriage and chanting “m. f. husain, shame, shame, ” along with “sita sings the blues, but nina paley has no clue. ”
the animated sita sings the blues is a groovy, jazzy retelling, definitely the most modern interpretation, though a rather simplistic one (understandable given the fact that it is a 90 minute 2d animation). the fate of the abandoned writer is shown to mirror the fate of the abandoned sita in clever montages of the writer' s real life alternating with segments of the ramayana. sita thus becomes a symbol for every other woman left behind or neglected by the husband in favour of power or ambition. the narrators' interpretations of the ramayana seems to favour that angle as well .
nina paley created the unapologetically quirky, irreverent, and unconventionally animated film sita sings the blues after her own divorce from her husband. she saw in the tale of ramayana, which the film juxtaposes with the story of nina’s own divorce, “ the greatest break - up story ever told. ” 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 .
nina paley’s sita sings the blues, released online a little over two months ago, has been generating great press and even greater viewership, closing in on 70, 000 downloads at urltoken alone. for the non - inundated, there is great background information on the film at paley’s website. we recently had the opportunity to talk with paley about …
when nina paley was reeling from the pain of a failed marriage, she did what any good artist should do: she turned her pain into art by creating sita sings the blues. she apparently did not have any plans to create a free - licensed film, but her experience in publishing her project made her into a believer .
because sita sings the blues uses some music from the 1920s that' s still under copyright, nina paley had to pay a lot of money — approximately us $ 50, 000. 00 plus another $ 20, 000 in transaction costs — to get it out of copyright jail (she talks about it in this interview. )
sita is a goddess separated from her beloved lord and husband rama. nina is an animator whose husband moves to india, then dumps her by email. three hilarious shadow puppets narrate both ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interpretation of the indian epic ramayana. set to the 1920' s jazz vocals of annette hanshaw, sita sings the blues earns its tagline as
the greatest break - up story ever told .
she is not doing a dis - service to her fans by refusing netflix carring sita sings the blues. she’s doing them a favor. the reason why digital rights management is so bad is that it doesn’t allow you to make copies for your own personal use and enjoyment. nor does it allow you use on multiple computers you own .
netflix has shown interest in carrying your title “sita sings the blues” for electronic delivery. for a 12 month license period they are offering $ 4, 620. 00. you would received $ 2310. 00 no later than 60 days after the netflix title release date and the balance of $ 2310. 00 will be paid 6 months after the initial payment .
i got a dvd in the mail, an animated film titled
sita sings the blues .
it was an version of the epic indian tale of ramayana set to the 1920' s jazz vocals of annette hanshaw. uh, huh. i carefully filed it with other movies i will watch when they introduce the 8 - day week. then i was told i
sita sings the blues is freely available from various sources. and when i say “freely available, ” i literally mean “for free. ” director nina paley ran up against a whole host of legal and copyright issues with the film (due to the annette hanshaw songs), so she did the unthinkable (at the time). she made it free for everyone .
sita sings the blues, a product of this shared cultural heritage, is set to be screened and discussed on this coming thursday, july 21 st at 5: 00pm. the event will be held at the starlite pavilion located at 130 - 05 101st avenue in richmond hill. admission is $ 5. 00 and children under 10 years are free .
so while my feelings on sita sings the blues are conflicted, i still think that it is a well made film despite its flaws. i encourage people to make up their own minds about it. if nothing else, the film gets us to consider differences in cultures and religions, and white women’s feminism vs the feminism / womanism of women of colour .
of course, this supreme - god - battle is not the only possible take - away or interpretation of the rich text. sita sings the blues takes on sita’s fate and renders thoroughly a more contemporary female perspective. being an avatar of lakshmi, wife of vishnu, she could take all challenges and follow her dharma with un - shattered devotion, but what would a mere mortal woman feel? probably not be as stoic as the legendary nepalese princess .
this link urltoken shows that the complete full - length version of “sita sings the blues” received its world premiere screening at the 58th annual berlin international film festival in germany this week. it looks like a fun and clever film. i have two teenage daughters who would probably enjoy it. hopefully it will be screening in manhattan soon. anyone know anything about it ?
sita sings the blues and its creator have won several awards such as “best film not playing at a theater near you” at the 2008 gotham awards and “someone to watch” at the 2009 independent spirit awards. come see it on november 30th, in the intimate, state - of - the - art private viewing room at videology bar & cinema. table service for food and drinks is available .
at one point she is shown as a blood - thirsty puppeteer out to get raavana killed, instead of saving herself. nonetheless, sita singa the blues is the most faithful retelling of the ramayana, even if oversimplified, as it takes the story all the way to its finale where mother earth swallows a sita who has essentially had enough .
sita’s sufferings have nothing to do with women rights, but ram and sita suffered because life is never easy for truthful people. thats the reason they are worshipped as gods .
talented animator, writer and producer nina paley has freely released her animated film, sita sings the blues under our copyleft license, attribution - sharealike. copies of paley’s feature length film are available on archive. org, legaltorrents, and various other sites in many different formats. nina explains her decision to her audience on the film’s site: dear audience, i …
this past weekend’s viewing pleasures included a long - standing, and much - awaited, resident of my movie queue: nina paley ‘s 2008 graphically and musically eclectic reworking of the indian epic ramayana, sita sings the blues. the movie incorporates four elements: a reworking of the traditional narrative of the ramayana; a mystery science theater - like commentary on the ramayana carried out by shadow puppets (in my mind, the highlight of the movie); musical episodes from the ramayana, featuring blues classics performed by annette hanshaw; and an autobiographical parallel tale featuring paley herself .
“sita sings the blues, ” based on a story from the hindu epic “the ramayana, ” is also notable because paley released the film under a “copyleft” license from the creative commons foundation. while the film has had many weeks run in theaters in new york city and elsewhere, and has had steady dvd sales, the film is also freely available online and can be found on youtube and is available for free for the iphone .
this article is about the 1977 film. for the 1961 play, see kanchana sita (play) .
the jazzy sita is a symbolic satire to how she conveys messages through her songs, singing very relevant tunes to the condition of sita in the ramayana. slow and steady we see a saddening state of affairs as sita is made to suffer despite her being a faithful and courageous wife .
ha ha classic: “it begins with a semi - nude goddess lakshmi emerging from the sea and dancing on tune of a ‘blues’ song. ”
some people say it’s not good art unless it pisses someone off. by that score, sita sings the blues is great art. not only does paley live with the threat of losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in suits over using hanshaw’s songs, hindu fundies have threatened to hang her for turning the ramayana into a feminist yarn in which rama comes across as kind of a dick .
now playing at urltoken written, directed, produced and animated by nina paley, except for some fight scene animation done by jake friedman. sita sings the blues is an inspirational adaptation of the ramayana, and involves a contemporary parallel based on nina paley' s experience in this greatest breakup story ever told. please visit urltoken for more information about this movie and nina paley .
consider for a second the amazing nature of this photo’s contents. nina paley made sita sings the blues in her apartment–all by her lone self, on a shoestring budget, using a desktop computer. one short year after its debut, with absolutely no promotional budget, no theatrical distribution and little mainstream media coverage, the film has traveled around the globe and fans are creating sculptures based on her work .
paley' s film has been a target of criticism by right wing hindu groups and it doesn' t come as a surprise given the narrow - mindedness of any extremist religious group. all the controversy and troubled production process notwithstanding ,
sita sings the blues
is an enjoyable film, a fun take on serious issues in the great indian epic the ramayana that seem to have reflected in the modern indian society as well .
when ms. paley recounted this, it was back in november and she was sitting in the dining room of a friend’s house in oakland. that evening “sita sings the blues” would open the san francisco international animation festival. (it also opened the museum of modern art’s annual series best film not playing at a theater near you in new york that month and went on to win a gotham award. )
3. aranya kand - the forest (aranya) chapter, which includes the kidnapping of sita by ravana .
rama seated with sita, fanned by lakshamana, while the monkey - god hanuman pays his respects .
the movie is about sita, the hindu goddess from the epic
the ramayana
, who accompanies lord rama on a 14 year exile in forest. sita is abducted by ravana, the ruler of lanka. this movie tells the story of rama and sita, along - with a biographical account of the director' s relationship with her husband .
a: some criticize the film as too irreverent, and find the way sita is portrayed offensive, with her narrow waist and big hips. it is inappropriate to others just because the film is a cartoon. others feel that the film focuses too much on sita rather then rama. in the ramayana, sita is only a footnote in the story, but obviously my film is about sita and her suffering. (source )
nina paley’s sita sings the blues –now a film that everybody can (and should) watch –continues to make an impact in surprising and unexpected ways. last week, the above reuters photo by krishnendu halder appeared online with the following caption: “members of laughter clubs attend a session during ‘world laughter day’ celebrations in hyderabad, india. ” the celebration in india included a huge sculpture of the mythical figure ravana based on nina’s design from the film .
compare this with another text, the 2008 animated feature film “sita sings the blues”. here too, sita the central female protagonist is a re - imagining of queen sita of the ancient indian epic ramayana. yet, its author - director - singer - writer nina paley does not need an interpreter or interlocutor to translate it. instead, she uses the lyrics of 1920s jazz singer annette hanshaw and creates a multi - layered story, complete with ironic giggling and disagreements in the recording studio with her cousins. nina paley credits the ancient saint valmiki as co - writer and has made the film using commercial - free sources. on her website, she states :
sita sings the blues is the story of a woman who follows her exiled husband into dangerous lands. there, she faces terrible hardships, but throughout her experience she continues to worship him, and has faith that he will carry her out of her misery. he does just that, only to banish her soon after, suspecting her of adultery. that’s right; the story is that of the ramayana, from the perspective of the wife of rama .
your examples of statements made by government officials serve to emphasize the comparison of women to the ideal archetype of ‘sita’ .
it’s obvious when you see the film that simply nothing else could have brought the same quality as hanshaw. a different movie could have been made, but not sita sings the blues. hanshaw is just a couple years more recent than the magic 1923 number for public domain, and therefore locked away from use without a license for many years to come. despite the fact that nobody but paley seems to have known about her, being publicized in sita can only generate more interest and sales, the rightholders are strict. it would cost somewhere between $ 50, 000 and $ 200, 000 to ever show sita in a theatre legally .
this narrative serves the educational purpose of the film, using the traditional dramatic style of story telling. it sets it apart from the musical episodes of the ramayana, which uses a more comfortable and digital animation. these episodes include jazz vocals of the 1920s by annette hanshaw, suggestively trying to imply a convergence between musical entertainment and tradition - also because story telling for us has now become just that. sita sings the blues in this narrative to tell us her story .
the movie is about sita, the hindu goddess from the epic
the ramayana
, who accompanies lord rama on a 14 year exile in forest. sita is abducted by ravana, the ruler of lanka. this movie tells the story of rama and sita, along - with a biographical account of the director' s relationship with her husband. written by pulkitanand
i still wanted sita to be in netflix’s on - demand system. i want as many people to see sita as possible; surely many viewers now rely on such a convenient delivery system to explore new films. anyone who became a fan of sita this way might still find the film’s web site, and learn how to download a free copy for themselves. although sita’s site states :
the creative commons license attached to sita sings the blues means that film is widely available and in different formats. the filmkaravan dvd under review here includes a commentary with paley and urltoken' s karl fogel, a trailer, and a wnet interview with paley. the dvd also includes press and publicity material for the film. it is also a “creator endorsed” disc, which means not only that paley participated in the production of the dvd, but that she shares in the profits, too .
sita sings the blues is a 2008 film written, produced and directed by nina paley, who also features in the film. in a rather unorthodox fashion, the entire film is created using the adobe animation program flash, something highly irregular for a feature - length film. in addition to this, paley has made the film entirely free to watch online, to screen in public, and even broadcast on television, without ever having to seek her permission .
4. kishkindha kand - the episode of kishkindha. this chapter describes the killing of bali, and the initiation of the active search for sita .
, or all - pervading nature, and the different moods of sita are shown as different aspects of nature .
sita sings the blues is not recommended for conservative religious folk. having said that, it is a must - watch film for everyone else. funny, unique, and well made, the story deals with some serious issues such as egotism and mistrust, but is depicted in a way that makes the viewer smile. the whole movie is filled with subtle, smart humour, which is one of its best features. all in all, a pleasant experience .
sita sings the blues is not simply a version of the ramayana. it is a work that incorporates elements of the ramayana and fuses them with elements of american culture and elements of the artist' s life. it is really an original work which strongly references and interprets the ramayana. paley describes it as
her ramayana
, as opposed to
the ramayana .
these works are the beginnings of a new, more international, culture composed from the elements of the past, but speaking to new generations of viewers.
sita sings the blues is a 2008 animated film written , directed , produced and animated by american artist nina paley . it intersperses events from the ramayana , light-hearted 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 artist 's own life . the ancient mythological and modern biographical plot are parallel tales , sharing numerous themes . 
sita sings the blues is a 2008 animated film written, directed, produced and animated by american artist nina paley. it intersperses events from the ramayana, light-hearted 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 artist's own life. the ancient mythological and modern biographical plot are parallel tales, sharing numerous themes.
sita sings the blues is a 2008 animated film written, directed, produced and animated by american artist nina paley. it intersperses events from the ramayana, light-hearted 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 artist's own life. the ancient mythological and modern biographical plot are parallel tales, sharing numerous themes.