Sita Sings the Blues Wins at Gotham Independent Film Awards

Posted by Dominic von Riedemann Dec 4, 2008

(Writer's Note: Once again, I'm using this space for a news story that doesn't have enough information to warrant a full article)

Nina Paley's independent animated film Sita Sings the Blues has won the "Best Film Not Playing at a Theatre Near You" prize at the 18th Annual Gotham Independent Film Festival. The prize carries with it a $15,000 cheque.

The Daily Show correspondent Aasif Mandvi hosted the event at Cipriani Wall Street.

This is one of several prizes Sita Sings the Blues has won at various film festivals, including the Grand Prix at the 2008 Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Special Mention at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival, and an Honourable Mention at the OIAF as well.

Writer/director Paley animated nearly all of the film on her laptop, over a 5 year period.

Sita Sings the Blues Won't Be Coming to a Theatre Near You

Despite the film's multiple awards, Paley has been unable to find a distributor for Sita Sings the Blues due to several copyright issues. The animator used several 1920's era recordings by jazz vocalist Annette Hanshaw in the film. Despite the fact that Hanshaw's recordings have since entered the public domain, the publishing rights for the songs themselves are still under copyright.

According to Paley, these publishing companies are demanding she pay them somewhere between $15,000 and $26,000 per song so that she can use the tunes in her film.

You can read more about this by clicking on Suite 101's exclusive interview with Paley, or on her blog.