Sita Sings The Blues
Flip Animation Festival is on in Wolverhampton this week, and includes one of the first UK screenings of Nina Paley's debut feature Sita Sings the Blues. Paley is a comic strip artist who moved into filmmaking ten years ago, and spent the last five animating Sita on her home computer. Inspired by the Ramayana, the film concerns the parallel man-troubles of Sita (in India's mythical past) and Nina (in contemporary America), with musical backup from 20s songstress Annette Hanshaw. The director's blog details some of the copyright hassles Hanshaw's music has encountered as well as the film's plaudit-strewn festival journey, and this Variety review will help to whet your appetite. (It's also screening tomorrow in Leeds.)
PS :: There's a rundown of other things going on this month at our listings archive. If you want this info sent to you directly, sign up to our email list on the left <<.