Sita Sings the Blues was recently rejected for a small government grant. Their review comments included “not engaging,” “nothing new,” “doesn’t speak to artistic growth and development” and “pretty but not groundbreaking.” At first I didn’t fully understand, but then today I learned a film exactly like mine has been done before:
Look at the similarities: the story is told from a white Western female perspective, it uses animation, and it only discusses Rama and Sita, omitting Laxman. Not only that, it was made by four-to-six-year-olds, which explains why the organization also called my project “standard” and “too easy.” I wish I’d known about this before I tried to “reinvent the wheel.” (via waiting for kalki)
