Shit

Actually the DVDs have too many visual errors – from the messed-up HD master I was never able to view, because who has an HD system? – and I have to start from scratch, making a new HD master, new exhibition tapes (for the festivals that aren’t showing 35mm) and, if DVDs are to circulate at all, new DVDs. Please ignore my previous enthusiasm. This is the fault of my Post-Production Supervisor, who I am firing immediately. Oh wait that’s me.

I also accidentally dropped a Cintiq stand on my toe:

My Toe After Dropping a Cintiq Stand on it (click thumbnail – or should I say toenail? – for larger photo in gross-o-vision)

Yes, it’s been another bad day, but all is not lost, just the $7,500 I spent on DVD authoring and manufacturing, plus the $1,500 or so I spent on the HD master and all the HD, Beta, DigiBeta, and DVCAM tapes I made from it. Because I have an Idea. A Very Good Idea, I promise. More on that tomorrow. I’m going to bed now.

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“Review Copies”

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Look what arrived today! Thanks to Gillian and Sylvie at Elektrofilm for the professional authoring in both PAL and NTSC formats that hopefully won’t crash like my home-authored version, and especially to my genius Momz for managing what turned into a more complicated logistical challenge than any of us imagined.

These aren’t for sale, of course – that would be illegal. They’re just festival screeners and review copies for, like, reviewing and screening in a festive manner.

Update: That said, it has some, ah, glitches. Glitches that apparently some people won’t notice, or think I did on purpose, but watching them feels like knives in my heart. Glitches which I must correct on the “next” version. Glitches which were in my HD master. Oh boy.

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Sita Soundtrack Project

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With the help of old record collectors and Annette Hanshaw fans, I’m hoping to put together a free, easily-downloadable “soundtrack” of the 11 old Hanshaw songs in Sita Sings the Blues. The collectors will provide the tracks – MP3s probably – and I’ll provide the “album cover” and publicity.

Who wants to provide the server? We need a server to put all this on. Please contact me if you have some server space to donate.

This isn’t to make money, it’s to bring Hanshaw’s beautiful music to new eager ears for free. It’s also to publicize that all the effort in preserving and sharing Hanshaw’s voice has been on the part of record collectors, not the music industry.

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The new music in the film is the responsibility of its respective composers, who are busy artists like me and haven’t yet had time to organize an album. Hopefully we’ll have a soundtrack of their stuff for you eventually, but meanwhile you can sample their delights at their respective web sites:
Todd Michaelsen
MASALADOSA
Rohan
Nik Phelps and the Sprocket Ensemble
Rudresh Mahanthappa

Any volunteers want to produce an album of their “Sita” music? It’s like herding cats, but they’re all super-nice, just very busy, like me.

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Sita in Livingston, New Jersey, this Saturday Sept. 6

Asian Indians in Livingston in collaboration with the Livingston library will sponsor screening of “Sita sings the Blues” on September 6th at 6:00 p.m. in the Livingston Library, S. Livingston Avenue (near the High School).

Yep I’ll be there, along with the awesome and delectable Reena Shah, a Livingston native. This event was instigated by Anju Bhargava, who has written extensively on Sita:

Sita, more than any other character, is an integral part of the Indian woman’s psyche. At every stage of an Indian woman’s life, her name is invoked. Anju Bhargava found it amazing that one great epic written by a poet thousands of years ago has shaped and continues to shape and reshape the thinking of an entire culture. And, how certain aspects of a character have been emphasized more than others to suit the political and societal norms of the day. They have been understood or misunderstood to manage relationships through control and power. She has often wondered what the impact of Ramayan to the Indian culture would have been if it these characters had not been canonized. What if the popular cultural focus was not primarily on the Sita agni parikshay. What if the characters were understood as the flesh and blood characters that Valmiki was attempting to bring to life in his great poem! This reflection of Sita took her further along in her own quest of understanding Indian womanhood. In many respects she has come back full circle. She was ambivalent towards Sita, then rejected her, and now has come to accept her as an Indian cultural icon. She shares her understanding of Sita in her essay www.sitayanam.com .

This will be the first screening I attend equipped with the long-awaited “limited edition festival screener” DVDs, which of course I can’t legally sell, but I’ll have a box of ’em for all you “movie reviewers.” And of course you can legally donate to the artist, who is currently homeless, broke and in debt.

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