FILMKARAVAN RELEASES SITA SINGS THE BLUES DVD
Available on July 28 on Amazon and Netflix***
Exhibition of Original Character Illustrations from the film
to commemorate DVD launch party
***

[New York, NY – July 20, 2009] – This July, FilmKaravan, in partnership with Vista India Digital Media, proudly presents its first DVD release -- the beautifully animated and wittily narrated debut feature film from Nina Paley, SITA SINGS THE BLUES -- through Amazon, Netflix and a vast network of South Asian wholesale stores nationwide. Brimming with charm, humor and a soundtrack comprised entirely of haunting vocals from 1920s jazz legend, Annette Hanshaw, whose old jazz and blues recordings give voice to Sita, this adult-friendly cartoon offers a personal and thoroughly modern adaptation of the great Indian epic, The Ramayana.
SITA SINGS THE BLUES juxtaposes multiple narrative and visual styles to tell the tale of Hindu Goddess and leading lady, Sita, a dutiful wife who follows her husband Rama on a 14 year exile into a forest, only to be kidnapped by an evil king from Sri Lanka.  Despite remaining faithful to her husband, Sita is put through many tests. Nina (the filmmaker Nina Paley herself) is an artist who finds parallels in Sita’s life when her husband – in India on a work project - decides to break up their marriage and dump her via email. Three hilarious Indonesian shadow puppets with Indian accents – linking the popularity of the Ramayana from India all the way to the Far East – narrate both the ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this stunningly animated interpretation of the epic tale.
FilmKaravan will host a DVD release party at the Interieurs showroom in Tribeca, and present an exhibition of Paley’s original water-colors -- works of art that formed the basis and inspiration for the film’s lively animation, on display for the first-time.  The artwork is curated from Paley’s wider personal collection by Priyanka Mathew, and will be displayed exclusively for one night, before the exhibition moves online to www.filmkaravan.com Proceeds from the exhibition will help raise money for the film’s ongoing distribution campaign, which has been launched as a wholly grass-roots effort by FilmKaravan and Paley. We hope that you will join us. The invite is pasted below.
“Elements of Blue” is a subset of Nina Paley’s paintings that are the basis of the animation in ‘Sita Sings the Blues’. They are the genesis of the characters, the personalities, the hope, the pathos, the stories and the resolutions. They provide us a window into the intersection at which visual art meets and transforms into film, says Mathew of the work.
The film boasts an excellent cast of voices, comprised of actors and non-actors such as comedian, Aladdin Ullah, and director-actor, Manish Acharya (Loins of Punjab), while notable musicians like Rudresh Mahanthappa provide a versatile and energetic musical background.
“Paley has produced a highly entertaining yet moving vision of the Ramayana, a huge accomplishment for a first-time filmmaker. We are so proud to get behind it at this stage, in order to bring it to the masses,” said Payal Sethi of FilmKaravan.
Paley’s struggle as a filmmaker has been no less dramatic than her self- portrait in the film. After suffering the demise of her marriage she channeled her outrage for five years behind a computer, adding remarkable depth to her characters, despite using only 2D animation. She spent her entire life savings on the film and then single-handedly produced, designed and marketed it to film festivals, finally confronting possibly the hardest battle of them all in her attempt to secure distribution. Eventually, she came face to face with the gods of copyright and could not pass through their mighty gates.
Although Annette Hanshaw's recordings are in the Public Domain, the song compositions and lyrics are owned by a handful of Big Media corporations. When it was time to find distribution, Paley went into debt to pay the exorbitant license fees she was quoted. The film is now 100% legal, but the experience led Paley to eschew copy-restricting her own work, and instead encourage the audience to share it.
Paley says, "I'm excited to have FilmKaravan's expertise working to help “Sita” reach more viewers. It's wonderful to have it available on Amazon and Netflix; it'll be great on store shelves too. I'm especially pleased with the package design, which is larger and brighter than previous distributions. It's a pleasure to work with a forward-thinking distributor that understands open content. They've seen how audience sharing actually increases the value of the film, and that DVDs have physical value beyond the zeroes and ones that constitute their data. Their “Sita” DVD is a really nice package that makes a great gift." 
This “copyleft” campaign has allowed the film to be enjoyed by a growing audience and now, they will also be able to enjoy additional access through the wide distribution networks of Amazon and Netflix. The film was picked up by FilmKaravan and Vista India digital Media, as part of their larger joint efforts to provide digital distribution for south-asian independent cinema on various online platforms, such as Indiepix, The Reframe Project and Netflix, Amazon. SITA SINGS THE BLUES will be joining the ranks of other titles that will also be available through these same distribution channels, including Mira Nair’s AIDS JaaGO, Arindam Nandy’s “Via Darjeeling” and Gitanjali Rao’s “The Printed Rainbow,” among others.
This inspiring and hilarious film will be available July 28, 2009 for $19.99 on DVD just in time to for the entire family to enjoy together during their summer holiday.

STREET DATE: July 28, 2006
Suggested retail price: $19.99 (DVD) 
Feature run time: Approximately 82 minutes 
DVD aspect ratio: 1.78:1, enhanced for 16x9 TV screens
DVD Sound: Stereo
Languages: English audio

New York Times Article - http://tinyurl.com/nt9x39
Sita Sings the Blues Trailer- http://tinyurl.com/79sv6n
Sita Sings the Blues hi-res images - http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/press.html
Queue it on Netflix - http://tinyurl.com/kuzhg4
Pre-Book on Amazon - http://tinyurl.com/mp7t3j

For more information, stills, trailers or to schedule an interview with Nina, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it