THE FRENCH CALL IT 'JOUISSANCE': Brett W. Thompson at the International Pillow Fight Day that took place in Freedom Park last month.
Please allow me a moment to gush about a local Atlantan whose smiling, dreadlock-framed face could’ve easily made a seventh profile in our Happy Issue cover story last month. To properly describe Brett W. Thompson, the president of ASIFA-Atlanta, I might need to invent some new terminology. Let’s go with calling him a crypto-genius: Despite his simple demeanor (”I’m OK, you’re OK, everybody’s OK!”), Thompson’s energy is contagious, and he seems to have some involvement in most everything vaguely cool, creative, bizarre, or DIY in this city.
For example, ASIFA-Atlanta’s promoting a special Food & Film Night and encore screening of Sita Sings the Blues this Thurs., May 21, from 7-8:30 p.m. The host venue, though, is none other than the Feminist Women’s Health Center in North Druid Hills (1924 Cliff Valley Way). WTF? I suppose the location makes sense, since the staff at the clinic has a good reputation for community involvement. It just goes to show you that geographic and demographic boundaries simply don’t matter for those willing to break them.
Unfortunately, seating is limited. If you’re interested in viewing Sita Sings the Blues, please RSVP by contacting Claire at 404-248-5445 or by emailing outreach@feministcenter.org.
The Plaza Theatre and ASIFA-Atlanta host a one-night screening of Sita Sings the Blues tonight at 7:30 p.m. The animation news blog, Cartoon Brew, calls Nina Paley’s film a “startlingly original mashup of Indian mythology, contemporary heartbreak, and 1920s American jazz.” Plus — Roger Ebert (of all people) writes:
Paley works entirely in 2-D with strict rules, so that characters remain within their own plane, which overlaps with others. This sounds like a limitation. Actually, it is the source of much amusement. Comedy often depends on the device of establishing unbreakable rules and then finding ways to cheat on them and surprise you. The laughs Paley gets here with 2-D would be the envy of an animator in 3-D. She discovers dimensions where none exist.
As the title implies, much of the charm of Sita Sings the Blues is due to its music, a fact that’s brought both acclaim and frustration to its creator. Paley, whose blog is taglined “America’s Best-Loved Unknown Cartoonist,” created the film without licensing the songs under copyright. Although she’s experimenting with alternative distribution methods (to comply with current law), the project is still largely a work of love. On the film’s official website, Paley explicitly invites her fans to “please distribute, copy, share, archive, and show” as much as we’d like.
