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Sita Sings the Blues video

Sita Sings the Blues

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Added by Tim J.
14 years ago on 13 December 2009 17:46

Donate to the filmmaker here questioncopyright.org/sita_distribution#donate

Buy DVDs, etc, here questioncopyright.com/sita.html

"Sita Sings the Blues" is based on the Hindu epic "The Ramayana". Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama. Nina Paley is an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by email. Three hilarious shadow puppets narrate both ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interpretation of the Ramayana. Set to the 1920's jazz vocals of torch singer Annette Hanshaw, Sita Sings the Blues earns its tagline as "the Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told." It is written, directed, produced and animated by American artist Nina Paley.

"Sita Sings the Blues" was released in 2008 only after long negotiations with the copyright holders of the 80-year-old songs recorded by Annette Hanshaw. Following the experience of almost having her film blocked from distribution, Nina Paley released it freely under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license, and now devotes a significant portion of her time to free culture activism. She is Artist in Residence at the non-profit QuestionCopyright.org.

If you'd like to help pay off the $50,000.00 loan she took out to pay the music monopoly fee, you can donate to the Sita Distribution Project (tax-deductible in the US) at questioncopyright.org/sita_distribution#donate . Donations to that project go exclusively to that purpose and other expenses Nina incurred in releasing the film. You can also purchase DVDs, prints, shirts, and other Sita-related merchandise at questioncopyright.com/sita.html ; revenue is shared with Nina Paley.

For more about the film and about Nina Paley's other work, see sitasingstheblues.com .

For more about how retroactive copyright restrictions almost prevented the release of the film, see this interview with Nina Paley questioncopyright.org/nina_paley_sita_interview .

For more information about QuestionCopyright.org and its projects, please see our web site questioncopyright.org .

QuestionCopyright.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and donations are fully tax-deductable to the extent permitted by law. You can support our work at questioncopyright.org/donate .