I got back from Stuttgart, still coughing (albeit less), and slept for about 2 days. Now I’m slogging through my backed-up emails and figuring out what to do next. I looks like I’ll be touring the Eastern Hemisphere most of June and July, and sub-letting my Hell’s Kitchen apartment. Interested parties please get in touch - the apartment comes with my cat Bruno, who needs daily food and love.
You’d think I’d be all overjoyed about this, but actually I’m stressed and confused. Will Sita get a distribution deal? Will it win an award? Awards drive me crazy - I always want one, “for the sake of the film,” I tell myself, but surely it’s for my ego. Press too is like coke, I always want more; google blogsearch is becoming a compulsion. I compare Sita’s progress with other films, which can’t be good. I’d like to detach from all this, but what about the festivals? This is my big chance to attend film festivals, it’s not like I can postpone them all until next year. But film festivals are orgies of comparison: who’s getting the most press? the best reviews? whose shows are selling out first? who’s getting the award? These are enemies of the Muse, and I’m not sufficiently mature to maintain my equilibrium in their midst.
Also, I am out of money and racking up expenses like you wouldn’t believe. Take “film festival rights”: publishers charge at least $500 a song just to play the film at festivals - and I don’t get money at festivals, I spend money to make the prints and stuff. I’m spending money I don’t have to get the film out there, and although something always works out, I have no idea how I’m going to pay for French subtitles (the “honor” of attending the Annecy Animation Festival is costing me over $5,000), or legal fees, or rent. Someday the film could bring money in, but I’m not sure how I’m going to make it to that day, if it ever comes.
What a whiney post this has turned out to be. On the brighter side, I’ll post next about all the sweeet reviews Sita got at Tribeca, with tasty little quotes selected by Publicity Bitch herself. But I am not Publicity Bitch. I am a servant of the Muse who is losing her way.
Back in March the Tribeca people asked all us filmmakers to send in a little self-interview answering questions like, “what is my name?,” “where am I from?,” and “why do I make films?” Today they finally posted my video, which you can view here.
You’ll notice there’s a little clip of my short film The Stork at the beginning. No, the producers didn’t ask for permission and no, that doesn’t bother me because yes, I enjoyed the piece so much I’m honored to be included (also the clip is really brief - blink and you might miss it). But hey Sexpelled producers - get in touch anyway, I like your style. (more…)
The Sita Sings the Blues trailer is up for a Freddie Award in the “Best Design” category. It’s one of those “viewer-votes” things - aka “get the filmmakers to do the publicity and spam everyone they know to go to your site and increase its ratings for advertisers and investors” things - so if you have the time and inclination and don’t mind being used as a pawn please go here and vote for it.
If you’re in Los Angeles, you should go see LOINS OF PUNJAB PRESENTS at the Arclight Hollywood (Sunset Blvd) on Saturday April 26 at 7pm as part of IFFLA.
“Loins” is one of my favorite movies ever. I did animation on its music video, and its director, Manish Acharya, is a voice in Sita.
This Saturday, fellow indie animatrix Signe Baumane is presenting a program called Women’s Side of Sex, including a clip from Sita. She and I and one other filmmaker will be present to answer questions and further embarrass ourselves.
Saturday March 22, at 8pm
at Millennium Film Workshop, 66 East 4th street
information: 212 673 0090
www.millenniumfilm.org
cinema@millenniumfilm.org
$8 admission
Seven seasoned in animation, sex and relationships women are going to share their sex/love stories with you :
Do you like filling in forms? Do you like putting things in envelopes? Do you like going to the post office? How about running errands? All for no money!
If this sounds like your dream job, I need someone to come to my unglamorous Manhattan studio once a week and do all of the above. You can probably get college credit for it. And learn something? Apply here.
above: just some of the mess you could help clean up!
As you may have heard, Emru Townsend, Editor of Frames Per Second Magazine is suffering from leukemia and is in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant. None of his relatives are a match, so he is relying on outside donors. We are asking you to help us encourage members of the animation community to join a bone marrow registry – you or someone you know may be the match Emru is hoping for!
Because tissue types are inherited, patients are more likely to match someone from their own race or ethnicity. As an Afro-Caribbean, Emru Townsend will be most likely to match other donors of African or Caribbean decent. So please urge anyone in your circle with this racial background to participate.
I’d just like to make one small correction: although there’s a better chance of a match from someone of the same ethnic background, it doesn’t mean I have no chance of matching anyone else. It’s better for me (and everyone else waiting for a transplant) if everyone registers. Registering is easy and, at worst, as painful as a blood test.
I wanted to spread the word here. Emru did a big article on me and Sita in 2005.
Have I forgotten to send my dear readers to Cold Hard Flash? It’s pretty much a one-stop info-shop for all things Flash-animation-production-related. Wondering what TV shows and movies are produced with Flash? Look no further. (And yes, they mentioned Sita.)
