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Sita Sings The Blues Online

Sita Sings the Blues is an animated feature film that blends a retelling of the classic Indian myth the Ramayana with 1920's jazz songs by Annette Hanshaw. And that's where director Nina Paley ran into trouble. The companies that own the copyright to the compositions demanded more than $20K per song. And mind you, none of this would go to the original artists.

The film is now being distributed by Nina Paley for free under a creative commons licence to allow people to see it. Because she won't make any money from it, she won't have to pay any excessive copyright fees, although she still had to cough up $50K for the right to use the songs.

The film combines various animation styles, from vector graphics to Indonesian shadow puppets, and its burst of colour is enchanting in itself. It has won the grand prix for best feature film at the 2008 Annecy International Animated Film Festival and a special mention at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival.

You can watch the full movie at thirteen.org and at (animation) film festivals around the world.

Images © Nina Paley 2008.