Category: New York

Rudresh Mahanthappa releases new albums, performs TONIGHT

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Sita collaborator and jazzman Rudresh Mahanthappa has just released some new albums! He writes,

The debut CD “Apti” of the Indo-Pak Coalition, my trio with Rez Abbasi on guitar and Dan Weiss on tabla, was released just a few weeks ago on the innova record label (http://www.innova.mu). We’re celebrating with shows tonight and tomorrow night. I haven’t performed as leader in New York since March so I hope that you can come.

Lots of show information after the fold:

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November Sita screenings

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We have a whole mess o’ festival screenings coming up in November. The ones I will actually be at, in person:

NEW YORK, Nov 8 and 9:

Saturday, Nov. 8, 11:00 am
Sunday, Nov. 9, 11:00 am
IFC Center (323 6th Ave @W 4th St., Greenwich Village)

These matinee screenings are part of the New York Children’s Film Festival. (Sita isn’t exactly a kid’s movie, but it plays very well to older kids and teens and their parents)

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 13:

Nov. 13: 7:00 pm and 9:15 pm with a reception in between.
Opening the San Francisco International Animation Festival
Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema (Battery @ Clay st, downtown SF)

NEW YORK again:

Thursday Nov. 20, 6:00 pm
Saturday Nov. 22, 3:00 pm
MoMA (11 W. 53 Street, between 5th & 6th aves)
In the Film exhibition Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You (Gotham Award nominees)

Monday November 24: Panel Discussion
The five nominees for this year’s Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You award gather for a panel discussion illustrated with film clips. Program 90 min.
MoMA‘s Theater 3, mezzanine, Education & Research Center

More November screenings that I won’t be able to attend, but I hope you go if you’re in the area:

Ft. Lauderdale (FL) Int’l Film Festival, Nov 7
World Film Festival of Bangkok (Thailand), Oct 24-Nov 2
Winnipeg Animation Festival (MN, Canada), Oct 29-Nov 2
Festival voix d’Etoiles (France), Oct 30-Nov 2
Moscow Big Cartoons Festival (Russia), Nov 1-16
Leeds Int’l Film Festival (UK), Nov 4-16
Holland Animation Festival (The Netherlands), Nov 5-9
Asheville Film Festival (NC), Nov 6-9
Flip Animation Festival (UK), Nov 6-8
Olympia Film Festival (WA), Nov 14
Beyond Borders Film Festival, (MN), Nov 15

Check out the occasionally-updated full screening list here.

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I Be Illin’

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OK, so I’m not in Athens right now. I left Israel early. I got sick, is what happened. A little food poisoning, a little irritable bowel syndrome, a little appetite loss and not eating for days, a little nervous breakdown, and next thing you know I’m back in New York trying to recover in a friend’s apartment, because I lost mine to bed bugs in July – not that that could be contributing to my stress or anything.

IBS

Unfortunately airports and airplanes and trying to sleep in different time zones are kind of killing me, so I’m canceling personal appearances for the next few weeks. It is a serious bummer, because I love meeting audiences and doing Q and A’s; and also because some of my upcoming lecture gigs actually pay, and I need the money. But my body and brain apparently can’t take this much travel, and I’m really sick.

On a bright note, the Rehovot International Women’s Film Festival was amazing – really excellent films, and excellent women. I also met some wonderful animators from ASIFA-Israel.

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Loins of Punjab Presents

It’s one of my favorite movies of all time. Its director, Manish Acharya, is the voice of “Shadow Puppet #3” in Sita. And it’s opening TODAY in the US!

Showtimes in NY/NJ/CT:

Quad Cinema, 34 West 13 Street (btwn 5th & 6th Ave)
Fri, Sat, Sun Showtimes: 1:00, 3:10, 5:20, 7:35, 9:50

The ImaginAsian, 239 East 59 St. (btwn 2nd & 3rd Ave)
Fri, Sat, Sun Showtimes: 12:15, 2:30, 4:45, 7:00, 9:15, 11:30
(No 11:30 pm show on Sunday)

Bloomfield 8 Cinemas, 863 Park Avenue, Bloomfield, CT
Showtimes: Fri – 3:30, 5:30, 8:00, 10:00
Sat/ Sun – 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 8:00, 10:00

Columbia Park 12 Theatres, 3115 Kennedy Blvd, North Bergen, NJ
Showtimes: Fri / Sat/ Sun – 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, 7:00, 9:00, 11:00
(no 11pm show on Sunday)

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Home is where the Cat is

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Bruno has joined a pride at Ken’s house. Background: Bruno. Foreground: Peanut. Not shown: Sweetpea. (I am not responsible for the latter two names)

I’m finally back in New York, staying in my friend Ken’s apartment, where my beloved and loyal cat Bruno is. It’s been a long, long trip around the world, on 12 separate flights, crammed into overcrowded economy cabins with “lap babies” and screamers, and all the Ambien in the world couldn’t make air travel more bearable. Happier stories and photos of the festivals themselves to come. For now, I’m just glad to be “home.”

My internet access on the road was spotty, so if you’ve been trying to reach me the last month, please try again now. I’ll be here until September 14, when I fly to Israel. More on that soon.

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Okay, here’s a picture of Sweetpea after all. 

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A Very Bad Time

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These last few weeks have been pretty awful. I am broke and homeless. Time I should be spending working on promoting my film – my only asset, my life’s work – has instead been consumed salvaging what I can from my apartment, bagging things in ziplocs, laundry laundry laundry, carrying stuff up and down and back and forth, throwing things out, calling exterminators, calling the landlord, calling friends, sleeping on a sofa, not sleeping on a sofa, taking showers and immediately changing into more ziploc-ed clothes, more laundry, wiping salvaged computer parts down with alcohol, weeping, talking to other tenants in my now-former building, confronting debt, canceling accounts, checking messages, begging for help, watching red bumps grow on my hands and arms (I have a delayed reaction to bed bug bites; it takes 9 days for the red welts to really blossom, then they linger a long time), reading bedbugger.com, reading craigslist housing ads, weeping some more, et cetera.

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