Friday, April 25, 8:15 pm, AMC Village VII
Sunday, April 27, 3:45 pm, AMC 19th Street East
Monday, April 28, 10:45 pm, AMC Village VII
Thursday, May 1, 1:45 pm, Village East Cinemas
Friday, May 2, 3:00 pm, AMC 19th Street East

AMC Village VII (AV7)
66 Third Avenue (at 11th Street)
New York, NY 10003

AMC 19th Street East (A19)
890 Broadway (at 19th Street)
New York, NY 10003

Village East Cinemas (VEC)
181 Second Avenue (at 12th Street)
New York, NY 10003

I’ll be at the first 3 screenings for Q & A’s, but alas I must miss the last two (other Sita collaborators will be there to reprezent). April 30 I go to the Rochester/High Falls Film Festival, where Sita is an opening night film. Then I go straight to Stuttgart, Germany, for the International Trickfilmfestival, followed by the Flashconference/FMX. Whee!

Sita is in. Screening dates and times to come.

An ongoing feature in which I recommend the work and websites of people who buy me lunch. Today’s entry: people I’ve neglected to post about who bought me lunch in Berlin!

Pierre-Jean Duffour and Stéphanie Gerlier (above) of MASALADOSA attempted to buy me lunch but were intercepted by Sita patron/Temple Construction Engineer Tom Swain (with wife Elke, below). However the next day they managed to pay for my food at the Teddy Awards party. I can’t praise the music of MASALADOSA enough. They found me online, sent me their music, and now it’s in Sita Sings the Blues. Hopefully I’ll see them again soon in France - fingers crossed for the Annecy festival, to which I submitted as soon as I got back.

Kaisa Penttilä, a Finnish animator living in Berlin, saw Sita and subsequently emailed me. One thing led to another, and the next thing you know, she bought me lunch.

Bonus lunch: Greg Sextro, and Reena Shah and I were also treated to lunch at the Berlinale Lunch Club.

Would YOU like to be featured in Links for Lunch? Then buy me lunch. My email address is at the bottom of the middle column, the one with the pictures linking to my movies and cartoons and stuff.

I don’t know Danish but I know what I like.

Vi bøjer Bollywoodbegrebet med ‘Sita Sings the Blues’, men det gør vi gerne, for Nina Paleys debutanimation i spillefilmslængde, der vandt en special mention på filmfestivalen i Berlin i februar, er i sandhed en film ud over det sædvanlige….(more)

UPDATE: confirmed screening dates:

Copenhagen:
March 30 Empire Bio 15.00
April 6 Cinemateque 19.30
plus:
Aarhus: April 2 Ost for Paradise 18.00
Odense: April 4 Cafe Biografen 16.00

Sita is going to the NATFILM FESTIVAL in Copenhagen! Word is she’ll screen Saturday March 29 (I’ll be there!) and Sunday April 6 Cinematque at the Filmhouse in Copenhagen, but I don’t know what times yet. I also just learned one of my favorite films ever, Loins of Punjab Presents, will be at the festival too. Sita, Loins and Denmark: it’s a dream come true.

Sorry for the delay. I’ve been jetlagged and, dare I say it, a little depressed - must be that post-partum thing they warned me about. I’m only talking about my mood here, not my reality - my reality is great! I’m very lucky, very blessed, and I know it. I just wish my brain chemistry corresponded. Anyway, photos here. (Photo above by Markus Kempken.)

…because, much to my delight and surprise, she was listed as a TEDDY film: the GayLesbianBisexualTransgender category at the Berlinale. Films were classified as follows:

G / g : Gay
L / l : Lesbian
T / t : Transgender
GS : Gender Studies / Role Models
C : Queer Context

Sita Sings the Blues is “C: Queer Context.” The film may not be specifically pro-gay, but it’s pretty anti-het. Or maybe the film, like me, is so utterly non-straight it has to be queer. Whatever the reason, I am thrilled: queer cinema on the whole tends to be much more interesting than mainstream. Thanks, Teddy people!

I’m back! Sorry I couldn’t blog from Berlin, nor clean up the comment spam until just now. Photos and stories to come after I sleep off my jetlag, but first some news in brief:

1. Sita got a Special Mention from the Generation 14plus Jury

2. Someone took a hot photo of me at the premiere

In addition, everyone loved the story of how you blog-readers helped the film, especially with the 35mm print. Congratulations to all of us!

Both! Big thanks to Markus for getting these printed in Berlin.

The “Goddess” poster is A1-size - big!

“Agni” is A2, smaller but more convenient.

Thanks to your excellent comments, I’ve modified my poster designs. Now which do you like best?

Poster A.2

Poster B.2

Which is best? Inquiring graphic designers want to know. Thanks for your help!

UPDATE: newer poster designs above
Please help me choose a poster design to take to Berlin:
(more…)

Praise be to Laxmi!

Laxmi is both the eternal form of Sita and the Goddess of Wealth. I never really thought about her wealth aspect until now. Because my mind is so blown by the donations coming in for the 35mm master of Sita Sings the Blues.

Folks, you are kind and generous beyond my dreams. So far over $13,000 have come in. Some is from people I know in real life, but most is from people I’ve never met, mere electronic impulses from other synapses in this great hive-mind we call the Internet. I’m sitting here in awe and disbelief. I’m so grateful, so touched, so dazzled my little pea-brain can’t quite handle it. So it’s time for me to envision this as divine and offer thanks.

I thank all of you, I thank the Internets, I thank the Universe, I thank Laxmi.

The lab making the 35mm print master of Sita Sings the Blues has been delayed receiving the requisite film stock, due to a delivery error. That means they can’t print the final reel - with the credits - until Monday. And that means I don’t have to render the credits until Sunday. Which means anyone who wants their name in the credits still has until 10pm Sunday January 27 to make a donation! All donors will be thanked in the credits, but donors of $1K or more get a credit of their choice (Key Grip, Caterer, etc.) in a larger font.

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 Tuesday night. Big, big thanks to you amazing generous kind wonderful donors - a post of pure gratitude is coming soon.

So the good news is, Sita is in the Berlinale. The bad news is, she’s programmed in a theater that doesn’t do Digital Cinema. That means unless I have a 35mm print by February, her one and only World Premiere will be on, well…video. I can’t let that happen.

The 35mm master will still cost about $30,000 - more if we do surround sound, which is much better audio. I still need to raise $20,000. I’m looking into bouncing credit card debt - you know, putting it all on a few credit cards, then continually applying for new credit cards and shifting the balances from one to another. It would be much better if some rich person just lent me the money. Or if some supernatural being just gave me the money - but honestly, a loan would be plenty. Big ol’ credit in the film, you can attend the Berlinale with me as part of the film team, my undying gratitude…

Here are Sita’s Berlinale screening dates, just in:

11.02.08 17:00 Kino Babylon
13.02.08 11:30 Kino Babylon
14.02.08 19:30 Kino Babylon

Let’s give all those broken-hearted Germans who are seeing the Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told on Valentine’s Day the real 35mm experience!

Tax-deductible donations (not loans) can still be made here.