Commentary &T.Hachtman 22 Feb 2008 09:23 am
Sita, Gertrude and George
- Nina Paley was invited to premiere her feature length hand drawn feature, Sita Sings the Blues, at the Berlinale, the 58th International Berlin Film Festival.
What an accomplishment!
And as if that weren’t enough, the film won a special notice citation from the festival.
The festival announcement
reads like this:
Berlinale 2008:
The members of the Youth Jury in the Generation 14plus include:
Roman Akbar
Zadora Enste
Hans Hirsch
Nora Kubach
Zoё Martin
Linda Moog
Lavan Vasuthevan
A special mention goes to
Sita sings the Blues by Nina Paley (USA)
Certain stories can be re-told forever, even over thousands of years. This
innovative and unique film has impressed us with its boundless creativity and
irresistible charm.
Congratulations and kudos to Nina for this extraordinary achievement. I’m really pleased and proud for her accomplishment.
- Tom Hachtman came by the studio to show off a new book. New Yorker cartoonist, Sid Harris has edited a the book, 101 Funny Things about Global Warming.
This is a collection of cartoons by different cartoonists who have something to say about the subject. People like Ben Katchor, Lee Lorenz, Gahan Wilson, and Tom Hachtman have some hilarious entries here. Tom did two Gertrude’s Follies strips. Here’s one of them.
(Click any image to enlarge.)
- On Wednesday, I saw Sunday In The Park with George. Despite having an animator for a director, or maybe because of it, I didn’t like the show. Actually, I love the show – it’s probably my favorite theatrical piece. But I didn’t like this version of the show. It was heartless and wholly unemotional. Since all the reviews were absolutely glowing throwing the term “Art” around a lot, I feel like something of a curmudgeon. Who cares; I know what I saw and didn’t see.
I haven’t had time to sort out my thoughts, but I’ll try to give a full account of it tomorrow and let you know how the animation helped kill it. I also have an interview with the animator-turned-director I’ll post.
The show opened last night, so the reviews are printed in the papers today.
Here’s Ben Brantley‘s glowing review in the NYTimes.
Here’s Joe Dziemianowicz‘ glowing review in The NYDaily News.
Here’s Linda Winer‘s review for Newsday and the Associated Press.
on 22 Feb 2008 at 7:04 pm 1.Emmett Goodman said …
A big hand to Nina Paley. I have been pretty excited since reading David Levy’s article about indie animated features coming out of New York. I hope she has a showing for the film here in New York soon. And I hope your Edgar Allen Poe film is going well too, Mr. Sporn.
on 23 Feb 2008 at 10:01 am 2.Nina P said …
Thanks Michael, thanks Emmett! “Sita” will screen in New York soon, I promise.