| Invitation |
| Nina Paley |
NINA PALEY’S SITA SINGS THE BLUES **** EXCLUSIVE ONE WEEK RUN **** - DECEMBER 25-31 TRIUMPHANT HOMECOMING FOR NEW YORK’S “ONE WOMAN PIXAR” Dec 25 to 31 - 323 Sixth Avenue at West Third Street, (212) 924-7771 Q&A with filmmaker Nina Paley every evening show! Says Nina: “What do Hindus and Jews have in common? We're free on Christmas Day!” WINNER: BERLIN, ANNECY, OTTAWA, MONTREAL, GOTHAM AWARDS Tickets now on sale at www.ifccenter.com/films/sita-sings-the-blues/  |
| Film distributor GKIDS and IFC Center announce an exclusive one week engagement of Nina Paley’s award winning animated film SITA SINGS THE BLUES. The film will open on Christmas day, December 25 with multiple screenings daily, closing December 31. This will be the first New York City theatrical run for the film. The IFC Center engagement marks a homecoming for New York animator Nina Paley, who wrote, directed, animated, and edited the film in New York City over the course of five years, with a staff of just herself. (A typical animated feature employees as many as 200 production staff.) The resulting SITA SINGS THE BLUES is a cinematic triumph, and has charmed audiences and critics across the globe and taken top prizes at prestigious film festivals including Berlin, Annecy and Ottawa. To date, the film has played over 200 festivals worldwide. SITA SINGS THE BLUES Animation, USA, Nina Paley, 2008, 82 min, in English Tragedy, comedy and musical collide in this gloriously animated film from Nina Paley, New York’s own "One Woman Pixar" (Wired Magazine). 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 bickering shadow puppets with Indian accents act as comic narrators as these old and new stories are interwoven in a post-modern retelling of the ancient Indian epic, Ramayana, animated in a dazzling mix of traditional and collage animation style, and backed by a soundtrack from legendary 1920’s jazz singer Annette Hanshaw. Sita Sings the Blues follows in the line of Triplets of Bellville, Spirited Away and Persepolis to exemplify animation as a "serious" art form—which does not stop it from being laugh-out-loud funny. A panoply of monsters, gods, goddesses, warriors, sages, pyromaniac monkeys and winged eyeballs fills the screen with vivid color from start to finish, while the narrators’ improvisational debates over the Rama legend join the filmmaker’s own tragicomic story to layer a modern feminist commentary on the ancient Indian legend. The result is a subtly subversive, visually stunning, highly original work that is as enjoyable for children as it is for adults. DIRECTOR’S NOTES 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. And the way their marriage fails is uncannily similar to the way mine failed. And the question that I asked and the question people still ask is, “Why?” Why did Rama reject Sita? We don’t know why, and we didn’t know 3,000 years ago. I like that there’s really no way to answer the question, that you just have to accept. Which is why I included a scene of Sita sitting on the banks of the river saying, “I must have committed a terrible sin in a previous life to deserve such suffering.” There’s always a sense that, if something bad happens to you, that there’s something wrong with you. And I love that even Sita believes this, because she’s completely stainless. I was moved by the story and it seemed to speak so much to my life. It was cathartic to retell the story. It was a very personal project from the beginning. I didn’t set out to tell THE Ramayana, only MY Ramayana. “ASTONISHINGLY ORIGINAL!” “DELIGHTFULLY SUBVERSIVE!” - Variety About IFC Center IFC Center is a state-of-the-art cinema in the heart of New York's Greenwich Village. Bringing the very best in new foreign-language, American independent, and documentary features to NYC audiences, IFC Center is also known for its innovative repertory series and festivals, for showing short films before its regular features in the ongoing "Short Attention Span Cinema" program, and for special events such as the guest-curated "Movie Nights" and frequent in-person appearances by filmmakers. The theater's lobby concession stands features a unique array of food and merchandise, from organic popcorn, locally-made vegan baked goods and David Lynch coffee to CineMetal t-shirts, books and a carefully curated selection of classic, foreign and independent films on DVD and Blu-Ray. IFC Center also offers a membership program that includes ticket and merchandise discounts, free members-only screenings and other rewards. www.ifccenter.com About GKIDS GKIDS is a distributor of award-winning filmed entertainment specializing in titles that cross over between art-house and family audiences. Theatrical releases include Michel Ocelot’s acclaimed Azur & Asmar, in partnership with the Weinstein Company, and Nina Paley’s multiple-festival-winning animated feature, Sita Sings the Blues. Upcoming GKIDS releases include Tomm Moore’s animated Oscar contender The Secret of Kells, the 2009 European Film Award Best Animated Feature winner Mia and the Migoo by Jacques-Remy Girerd, and Tahaan from renowned director Santosh Sivan (The Terrorist, Before the Rains). GKIDS is also longtime producer of the New York Int’l Children’s Film Festival, North America’s largest festival of film for children and teens. NYICFF jury members include Frances McDormand, Uma Thurman, John Turturro, Susan Sarandon, Gus van Sant, and Matthew Modine. The GKIDS.TV website is a place where children, teens, and adults can watch, rate, review, buy and share award-winning film and animation from around the world. www.gkids.tv Media Contact: Dave Jesteadt, 212-528-0500, dave@gkids.com Hi-res film stills available for download at www.gkids.tv/sita. Interviews with Nina Paley available upon request. The Indo-American Arts Council is a 501 ©3 not-for-profit arts organization passionately dedicated to promoting, showcasing and building an awareness of artists of Indian origin in the performing arts, visual arts, literary arts and folk arts. For information please visit . |