Got a Girl Crush On: Sita Sings the Blues (animated almost entirely by Nina Paley)
Utilizing at least 3 types of animation, and money out of her own pocket, Nina illustrates the epic Hindu poem of Ramayana–told from the view off Sita (wife of Rama) and paralleling it to Nina’s own life heartbreak.
Since she is distributing it under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License, Nina encourages you to “please distribute, copy, share, archive, and show Sita Sings the Blues. From the shared culture it came, and back into the shared culture it goes” therefore you can watch the whole movie for FREE on youtube (and might consider making a donation so she can pay back the copyright fees–which are not inexpensive–for the music she uses in the film).
Another unique spin on the tale is the use of the music by 20s singer, Annette Hanshaw, throughout the film to help encapsulate the heartache of Sita (you can check out more of Annette on Spotify).
Not only is this one of the most amazing works of animation I’ve seen in a while, but it’s also mind-boggling that Nina wrote/animated/directed/edited this BY HERSELF!