As the film continues its rounds, festival-goers can expect to see it at the upcoming Ottawa and Vancouver festivals, as well as the Animation Is Film festival in Los Angeles. It was selected to compete at this year’s Annecy festival, in June, as well as Poland’s ANIMATOR festival, where it won the feature film audience award. But the film also presents another side of this ancient story: that of the Goddess, humankind’s original deity, in a tragic struggle against the forces of Patriarchy.īesides being the biblical epic you can dance to, Seder-Masochism is a beautifully crafted and entertaining film, neatly laying out Paley’s interpretation of Exodus. The second feature film from the Central Illinois-based independent animator, who released Sita Sings the Blues in 2009, Seder-Masochism loosely follows a traditional Passover Seder, with events from the Book of Exodus retold by Moses, Aharon, the Angel of Death, Jesus, and the director’s own father.
One of the year’s most engaging indie animated features, Nina Paley’s Seder-Masochism takes audiences on a wild ride through the traditional Passover Seder, with a splendid cornucopia of rich 2D animation set to musical themes ranging from liturgical to pop. Dancing stone goddesses in ‘Seder-Masochism’ directed by Nina Paley.