[Lancaster] Free culture film showing

[andy baxter]

Hi all,

Myself and a friend will be showing a Creative Commons Licensed film at 
the Gregson Centre Cinema on Thur 26th Nov at 8pm. The filmmaker has 
released the film for free download under a free license that permits 
people to copy and show the film as they wish without copyright 
restrictions. We are hoping to raise a bit of money to go direct to her, 
as a recognition of her generosity in doing this, and as a way of 
encouraging her and others to release more films this way.

The full press release is copied below - please circulate.

andy

------ PRESS RELEASE ------

Sita Sings the Blues

There will be a showing of this beautiful animated epic at the Gregson 
Centre Cinema at 8pm on Thursday 26th November. There is limited seating 
so please come early if you want to guarantee a seat - first come first 
served!

Admission £5 / £3, which will go direct to the film maker (Sita is a 
Free Culture film, released under a Creative Commons License which 
allows anyone to download, copy or show the film without restrictions.)

Sita is a Hindu goddess, the leading lady of India’s epic the Ramayana 
and a dutiful wife who follows her husband Rama on a 14 year exile to 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 beautifully animated 
interpretation of the epic.

In her first feature length film, Paley juxtaposes multiple narrative 
and visual styles to create a highly entertaining yet moving vision of 
the Ramayana. Musical numbers choreographed to the 1920's jazz vocals of 
Annette Hanshaw feature a cast of hundreds: flying monkeys, evil 
monsters, gods, goddesses, warriors, sages, and winged eyeballs. A tale 
of truth, justice and a woman’s cry for equal treatment. Sita Sings the 
Blues earns its tagline as "The Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told."

We will also be showing a short video interview where Nina Paley talks 
about her struggle with the copyright system while making Sita, and her 
decision to release the film under a free license.


www.sitasingstheblues.com