“Sita Sings the Blues” director turns pain into passion project
By Michael Knox, mknox@modernfilmzine.com
“Sita Sings the Blues” director Nina Paley interview part 1
When Nina Paley set out to create her animated feature film, “Sita Sings the Blues,” it was a lesson in commitment. The feature film is based on the Indian story of Ramayana, telling the tale of Rama and Sita and their break up. Paley, originally born in Urbana, IL, learned about the story of Ramayana when she moved to Trivandrum, India, in 2002 after her husband took a job offer there.
“Sita Sings the Blues” also tells the story of Paley’s relationship with her husband, who dumped her by e-mail, when she was on a quick trip to New York.
“Now I feel kind of bad for him because people are asking me these questions about him,” Paley said.
The news that her husband had dumped her pushed Paley to develop “Sita Sings the Blues,” mixing the story of Ramayana with Paley’s own semi-autobiographical storyline which plays against the legend of Sita and Rama’s relationship falling apart.
“All of my art is semi-autobiographical,” Paley said. “It’s disguised to a greater or lesser degree. It’s just how it happens with me. It’s who I am. I make work that i feel really passionate about. The way I put it, I exorcise my demons. I have demons and I need to let them out.”
One of those demons that haunted Paley was her thinking just how difficult it was to commit to a person. Her husband dumped her and she was again dumped by a boyfriend and those failed relationships made her ask just how difficult it was to commit to something.
So when she decided to commit to making a feature length film she bought a ring, which symbolized a wedding ring of sorts, which she wears to this day. The ring acted as a symbol to encourage her to continue pushing forward.
“I bought it as part of this exercise and I have to say once I took that leap and made that commitment I didn’t have a day where I thought about leaving that project,” Paley said. “When I made the commitment it was scary because i knew there would be days that i didn’t want to do it and that was why i made the commitment.”
That commitment has lead to a motion picture that has been seen around the world, and has created a unique film that many find hard to sum up in a short description.
“Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved lord and husband, Rama,” according to the synopsis for “Sita Sings the Blues.” The synopsis continues, stating, “Nina is an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by e-mail. Three hilarious shadow puppets narrate both ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interpretation of the India epic, ‘Ramayana.’ Set to the 1920s jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw, ‘Sita Sings the Blues’ earns its tag line as, ‘The greatest break up story ever told.’”
Annette Hanshaw’s jazz vocals play a prominent role in the film, but if Paley’s husband had not dumped her, she may have never discovered the singer’s music. Paley was stuck in New York and was couch surfing when she stumbled across her friend’s record collection and found Hanshaw’s music.
“While I was in the pit of grief I had her song on the original vinyl,” Paley said. The song that stuck with her was “Mean to Me,” which Paley developed into a short film in 2003. That short ended up as a chapter in the final feature film.
“I had no intention of making a feature,” Paley said of her short film. That changed in the winter of 2005, when she committed to film after another failed relationship. The break up was Paley’s catalyst to committing to the feature film.
Paley, 40, of New York, NY, had already had a background in animation, having made short animated films since 1998. Paley has also been a longtime veteran of syndicated comic strips, creating “Fluff” (Universal Press Syndicate) and “The Hots” (King Features).
Her art background allowed Paley to animate the film, by herself, using a series of computer programs that allowed her to work on her own. Paley used basic programs that pretty much anybody can buy.
“That’s a message I love to give is that you can do this,” she said.
The technology allowed Paley to develop her film, but the animator chose to work by herself on the project, instead of bringing in other animators.
“It was healing for me to make it and you can’t hire other people to heal for you,” Paley said. “It would be like hiring somebody to go to therapy for me.”
Paley continued on the project, but when she tried to explain the film to people they often didn’t get its concept. She applied for a grant, but the corporation pretty much “savaged” her proposal.
“Because it’s an impossible film to describe,” Paley said. “At the beginning people more or less liked what I was doing (with the short film), but when I described the (feature film) it’s hard for people to really understand. Even when they saw the first part of it they didn’t know how it was going to fit into this larger piece. I did decided it was easier to make the film than to describe it.”
Paley committed to making the feature film in the winter of 2005, and continued on the film, only stopping to take a five month break for a freelance job, which paid the bills. The film was finished by January 2008.
The work she did on the film taught Paley a little bit about herself, she said, and made her ask some hard questions.
“I think it comes through in the film. Making the film allowed me to get in touch with my inner Sita,” Paley said. “I didn’t know why I was feeling the way I was feeling, wanting this man who rejected me. A normal, self assured woman, I related so much to Sita and the Ramayana.”
And in many ways Paley identifies with Sita and her story, and how the pain of Paley’s failed relationship could consume her if she wasn’t careful.
“Basically the pain was going to burn me,” Paley said. She then talks about how in the story of Ramayana, Sita goes into the fire, coming out of the blaze in the epic tale.
“For me that’s a metaphor of pain,” she said. “It can either burn you or it can fuel something.”
A movie poster for the popular film, "Sita Sings the Blues"
