“Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless; like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.” – Bruce Lee

Art of the Title: How did you develop the various artistic styles for the film? The differences are striking.

Nina Paley: I immersed myself in Ramayana art. There’s thousands of years of it from pretty much every country in South and Southeast Asia. I had no shortage of inspiration. The visual styles included in “Sita” are but a tiny sampling of what’s out there. As to how I chose…everything in the film felt like it chose itself. If anything seemed to work, I went with it; if something didn’t work, I threw it back.

ATS: Why did you feel that this story needed to be a feature film?

NP: I wanted to work through the story for personal reasons. It’s a big story; it called for feature length. Initially it was just a short, “Trial by Fire,” which was 3 minutes. Most audiences liked it but didn’t get the Ramayana references. I realized I’d have to expand the story for audiences to receive my message. My art isn’t finished until an audience “gets” it.

ATS: How did you finalize the structure?

NP: Intuitively.

ATS: With regards to in the incredible intricacy of the storytelling, how did you know what something was right; is it from the gut?

NP: From the gut, or maybe the heart. I like to think all my organs were cooperating on this, even my brain.

ATS: How did you discover Annette Hanshaw’s music?

NP: After my husband dumped me by e-mail I was staying with various friends-of-friends. One place belonged to a record collector, and some old Hanshaw sides were on his shelf. My friends played Hanshaw’s “Mean to Me” and I was hooked. Later one friend bought me an all-Hanshaw CD he found. I played that thing over and over during the months after my break-up.

ATS: What qualities does it possess for you to lead to its historic usage?

NP: The synchronicity of the Hanshaw songs and Sita’s story is uncanny. This impresses audiences and allows the film’s point to be made: the story of the Ramayana transcends time, place and culture. Because the songs feature an authentic voice from the 1920’s, they demonstrate that this story emerged organically in history. New songs composed by the director, while they could be entertaining, could not make that point. They would be a mere contrivance, whereas the authentic, historical songs give weight to the film’s thesis. They are in fact the basis of the film’s thesis, irrefutable evidence that certain stories – like the story of Sita and Rama – are inherent to human experience.

ATS: What element of the film is closest to your heart?

NP: I think my favorite scene is “Agni Pariksha,” that rotoscoped bit that comes shortly after the intermission. It doesn’t feel anything like the rest of the film – it’s not funny at all. It was my attempt to convey what my heartbreak felt like, emotionally. Although I only got a tiny little fraction of the experience in there, I think it works. In some ways it’s the heart of the movie.

ATS: How are you keeping the copyright issue from overshadowing the film itself? How will copyright inform your creativity on future projects?

NP: I am never again going to close-license (“copyright”) my own art. Any publisher or distributor that wants to work with me is going to have to accept an open license. Open content has been generating lots of money in software for years; it’s time for popular culture to follow.

ATS: What is next for you?

NP: Freeing “Sita”! I’m currently a full-time Free Culture activist. And I plan to make some short cartoons on this current obsession.

Watch/download/burn the full-length animated film at Archive.org! The H.264 MPEG4 encodes are courtesy of Art of the Title.