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.
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…)
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.
Organizer Wolfgang Schmidt-Sichermann reminds me to tell you all I’ll be giving a presentation May 8 at this year’s Flashconference, part of the FMX conference in Stuttgart, Germany. I had a blast when I did this in 2006 and I’m really looking forward to it!
Big ups and mad props to everyone making donations large and small to Sita Sings the Blues. This is really our film, not just mine - a community project. Most films are financed by big corporations, perpetuating the top-down model of American entertainment: they dictate content from above, and audiences consume what they’re handed below. But Sita seems to be funded by viewers, individual human beings who want to see it get out there. The audience is financing this film! It’s not just touching, it’s thrilling to be part of this. Thank you!!
Everyone who donates gets their name in the credits. Donors of $1,000 or more (like lenders of $2K or more) get a credit of their choosing!
Update: Credits are locking Tuesdaynight. Big, big thanks to you amazing generous kind wonderful donors - a post of pure gratitude is coming soon.
I’m almost finished animating Sita Sings the Blues. I haven’t been posting images of the latest scenes, based on my own misadventures in love, so here’s one for ya. It depicts “Nina” months after being dumped by her husband by email, while similar events are analyzed by a shadow puppet voiced by Manish Acharya. Because the film is now 80 minutes long, I am omitting a song. I was going to have a composer sweeten it up and make it more pop-y, but I kind of like it as is (I “made” it myself! Thanks iTunes and Audio Hijack Pro!). It is about what everyone asks compulsively when their love fails. You won’t hear it in the film, it’s a ninapaley.com exclusive!
“Don’t be embarrassed. Especially if you write humor….We all have our kinks (I’ve got all their albums!), our weirdness, our neurosis and our strange ideas–God knows you could fill a city with mine–but most people are afraid to admit to them for fear of being laughed at. Well, you’re writing humor, so that’s the point?….My whole life I’ve hated conformity and everybody trying to act like everybody else. You know what? Act and write like who you are. Don’t be ashamed of yourself. Your wierdness is what makes you special. Share it. Embrace it. If someone doesn’t like it or is offended by it, then fuck them. Why would you want to be friends with a flat out asshole like that anyway?”
Fellow animator Lee Rubenstein came by last week with a little video camera, and now here I am on Youtube. The piece above is almost 8 minutes long (that’s close to infinity in animator time) so Lee also made a short (01:40) version for today’s on-the-go interweb entertainment audience:
At a Platform Festival panel on intellectual property, I heard Rick Prelinger - filmmaker, founder of the Prelinger Archive and archive.org - warn animators against “internalizing the permission culture.” I’d never heard it phrased that way, but I can dig it. This morning I’ve been ruminating on this and other “enemies of creativity.” They are: (more…)
