The Los Angeles screening of Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues was a triumphant success. Not only did the film sell out at REDCAT, but there was a line about 30 deep around the corner waiting to get in this past Monday night. The crowd loved the film! It’s a real testament to the remarkable film Nina has made. If you have not yet seen the film, please make sure to visit www.ninapaley.com where you can find a list of upcoming festivals where it will be screening.

Nina was unable to attend the screening, but she was so kind as to answer a few questions for us. Thanks Nina!

How would you describe the style of animation you have employed in the film?
2-D vector with some 2-D raster. I used several visual styles: a colorful cut-out style mixing fantasical cartoony “ancient India” motifs with Bollywood/Busby Berkley/Fleischer influences; fake shadow puppets inspired by traditional Indonesian, Malaysian, Cambodian, Thai and Indian designs; collages from pieces of printed Hindu devotional cards; fake Mughal miniature paintings (hand-painted by me using watercolor on parchment); straight-ahead free-hand animating in Flash; and hand-traced rotosope.

What prompted you to tell a story based on the Ramayana?
Oh my goodness. I moved to Trivandrum, India in 2002, following my then-husband. I read the Ramayana for the first time there, and was puzzled by what at first seemed like Sita’s extraordinarily submissive
behavior in the story. Then I went on a business trip to New York, and my husband dumped me by email. That changed my whole understanding of Sita and the Ramayana. I also heard the songs of Annette Hanshaw at that time, and everything came together.

How long did it take you to make this film?
3 years of work spread over 5 years of time.

What’s next for you after all the screenings are over? I hear you’re helping a fellow animator edit down a film. Is that correct?
Nope, but I’m available. I’m so busy trying to keep “Sita” going, it’s a full-time job except it doesn’t pay. I might write a graphic novel about my experiences with film festivals, the Movie Biz, the Law, and bed bugs. It’s been quite a year.

Where are you based?
New York, at the moment.

What is your current involvement with DUCK? Any DUCK-related projects coming down the pike?
If anyone sees my work on DUCK’s reel and says “I want Paley!” I am so there. It hasn’t happened yet, and I’ve been too busy to pitch, but I’m very happy to be represented that way. Mark Medernach has been a
huge supporter of “Sita,” and you can tell from the roster of DUCK animators that he understands and supports animation as art, not just commerce.

Has your film been a finalist or winner of any awards?
“Best Feature Film” Annecy International Animation Festival 2008
“Best American Feature” Avignon Film Festival 2008
“Best Script” (!) Athens International Film Festival 2008
Honorable Mention, “Best Animated Feature” Ottawa Animation Festival
2008
Special Mention, Generation 14-Plus, Berlinale 2008

Do you have a distribution deal in place?
Not yet, but it will probably be released in France before the US.

Do you think Sita could work on a TV channel in India like Hungama, or would your interpretation of the Ramayana be considered too liberal?
The political climate in India makes “Sita” a risky proposition there, but some Indian festival directors are interested. They have to get it past their committees, which are rightfully anxious about possible controversy. The film presents the Ramayana as several stories in several traditions, while certain Hindutva nationalist parties in India insist there’s only one Ramayana - theirs - and attack any dissent. Salil Tripathi recently wrote an article about exactly this in the Far East Economic Review.

Don’t forget to check out the animated feature film Sita Sings the Blues tonight at REDCAT in downtown Los Angeles at 8:30 p.m. The film is by DUCK director Nina Paley. For more details, see the blog below from last week.

Mark your calendars now! Animator extraordinaire and DUCK director Nina Paley will be screening her first animated feature film, Sita Sings the Blues, at REDCAT in Los Angeles on Monday, October 13 at 8:30 p.m.

In her first feature-length film, comic strip artist-turned-filmmaker Nina Paley juxtaposes multiple narrative and visual styles to create a highly entertaining and affecting vision of the Ramayana — the ancient Sanskrit epic and essential fixture of the Hindu canon. Musical numbers choreographed to the 1920s-era jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw spin off an astonishing whirlwind of flying monkeys, evil monsters, gods, goddesses, warriors, sages, and winged eyeballs. The film 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. Three hilarious Indonesian shadow puppets narrate both the ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interpretation of the epic.

We will  be chatting with Nina sometime between now and the screening, so make sure to add us to your RSS feeds, or check back often.

Tickets are $9 at the door or $7 with a student I.D.
(REDCAT is housed at the Walt Disney Concert Hall at 2nd Ave and Grand Ave in downtown LA.)

For the official blurb on the REDCAT page, visit: http://redcat.org/season/0809/fv/paley.php
For a complete list of all cities that will be screening Sita Sings the Blues for the remainder of 2008, please visit www.ninapaley.com

Animation master Brad Bird directed the Oscar-winning films Ratatouille and The Incredibles, from industry giant Pixar Animation Studios. At the Skirball Cultural Center, hear Bird discuss his body of work and how David Lean’s celebrated classic, Doctor Zhivago, starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie, has influenced his art.Friday, October 3, 2008
7:30 p.m.
$10 general admission, $6 full-time students
Click here for tickets

A few months ago I interviewed one of our newer directors, Richard Cullen. He recently completed work as the editor of the DVD concert video by Darren Hayes, “The Time Machine Tour.” The DVD debuted at #1 in the UK around July 22. Kudos to Richard (and Darren) and apologies for not blogging about this sooner.

Next up for Richard is another DVD titled This Delicate FILM We’ve Made. It’s due out in December and will feature 13 music videos off Darren’s last album. The majority of the films will be animated with Richard having animated and directed the majority of those. I’m sure it will be another #1 hit in the UK with a large following worldwide as well!

Holy hooligans! Phony ‘Joker’ arrested in Michigan
Michigan man, 20, dressed as ‘Joker’ accused of trying to steal Batman movie memorabilia 

Follow the link below to read fellow bloggers’ news about Disney’s upcoming The Princess and the Frog:

Disney’s Black Princess Gets Some Revisions

I always dream that one day Hollywood would put together the perfect comic book movie. It’d be a movie that is action-packed, creative, filled with intrigue, has great effects, has no signs of cheese, and above all, has a heart moving, pulse-pounding story. I thought Iron Man was suprisingly close to achieving such a feat if not for an overly cliched final battle with balded Jeff Bridges. Then there is The Dark Knight. It’s perfect. I said it. It made over $155 million after opening weekend. That’s a record. The movie weighs in at 2.5 hrs and every moment I felt like I was in Gotham City. The characters felt real. The story was believable. My imagination wasn’t really even that suspended. While the Batman mythos has always been my favorite from the comic-book genre, I really think the movie is perfect. I don’t know a better word to describe it. I even saw it on IMAX which is rare for me because i often find that both IMAX theatres and 3-D stereoscopic films make me ill. But from the opening sequence of the film, you are left on your toes. But there’s no point really reviewing the film here because you’ve probably already seen it.

What is worth noting is the difference between “showing” versus “telling.” It’s a very standard line for all writeres of every from from animation to poetry to short stories. The narrator should never tell what is going on; the narrator should show (and reveal) the story to the reader. Compare the psychological crux of The Dark Knight with a film out of the Joel Schumacher garbage can, Batman Forever. While the latter was a box office bonanza, the problem for Val Kilmer’s Wayne is that he can’t handle being obliged to be Batman. It’s a very similar choice in the Dark Knight but instead of being told, “I’m bruce wayne. I dont’ know if i should continue to be batman. Innocent people my get hurt and endangered because of me” versus the dark knight’s DEMONSTRATING how this would play out. Even the scene near the end when Nicole Kidman plunges to her doom and Batman has to choose between her and Chris O’Donnell, it all seems too happy, too colorful. When Batman faces similar conundrums in The Dark Knight, the struggle is so much more viceral. Batman seems much more like a real person. His emotions are tangible. For this, i give the movie a perfect 10. Believable characters. Everyone carps about it. It’s so tought to pull off!

Of course the real-life subplot to the film is Heath Ledger’s magnificant and truly frightening posthumous portrayal of the Clown Prince of Crime. The Joker is diabolical, insane, and at time quite funny! (Yes, the nurse’s scene is priceless! Ledger should get the academy award based on that scene alone.) Ledger gave me chills in this film. I think he’s a shoe-in for the Oscar. I was happy to hear that a commemorative service was held in Brisbane Australia for Ledger yesterday.

Does anyone disagree that The Dark Knight is the perfect superhero movie? Anyone think Spider-man or X-Men or Iron Man (or even Superman Returns) is better?

A few weeks ago, still images promoting the new G.I. Joe live-action movie were posted, and they look quite lame. Someone should have taken a page out of the Transformers book and learnt how to do things the right way. You can see the pics here and judge for yourself. As Shania Twain would say, “That don’t impress me much!”

http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/05/08/first-look-cast-of-gi-joe-lame/ 

The Incredible Hulk is going to be the surprise hit of the summer! A film that looked horrific is actually really good. Maybe I’m biased because I loved Edward Norton. He’s a phenomenal actor. He’s one of my all-time favorites. I was hooked after Primal Fear. The Hulk film of 2003 was inexcusable. I brilliant cast with an arguably brilliant director, and all the Marvel could produce (though i don’t blame Marvel) was a poorly constructed story with a very difficult to watch ending. This time around, Marvel was apt in naming the film Incredible… because that’s the best way to describe it!

That being said, Kung Fu Panda was my animated pick of the summer. While it doesn’t have the heart that Wall-e will have, KFP is fun! It’s as if Hollywood has forgotten how to make a FUN family film that skews towards boys. It used to be their bread and butter. KFP’s impressive run to $60 million last wk will not stop this weekend despite Bruce Banner. i can see a modest 30% drop-off for KFP. Hulk isn’t really family friendly, though I’m sure there are plenty of 9-yr olds who would love to see it! $60 is also a very solid number. I believe it outpeforms Shrek 1 and Madagascar, even when taking inflation into account.

There is actually a similar ethos to the protagonists to both films. There is an extraordinary talent hidden within them. It is their responsibility to use it for the best way possible. They could let the distractions and vices around them consume them, but instead, there is a spirit that drives them forward. It is the idea, as simplistically as it sounds, of being a hero. And while neither of these films are great works of art or seminal pieces of film, they are aspirational nonetheless. They make you want to be more, even if they’re just cartoony.