Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama. Nina is an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by email. Three bickering shadow puppets with Indian accents act as comic narrators as these old and new stories are interwoven in a post-modern retelling of the ancient Indian epic, Ramayana, animated in a dazzling mix of traditional and collage animation style, and backed by a soundtrack from legendary 1920’s jazz singer Annette Hanshaw. Tragedy, comedy and musical collide in Nina Paley’s animated film SITA SINGS THE BLUES (2008, 82 min) And the ingenuity of Sita – which evokes painting, collage, underground comic books, Mumbai musicals and “Yellow Submarine” (for starters) – is dazzling. Not busy, or overwhelming, or eye-popping. Just affecting, surprising and a lot of fun.

English subs. Free Entrance.