Today is about filling a hole in our collection by honoring a filmmaker with an indelible body of work. With a career spanning over 30 years, Latvian-born, Brooklyn-based animator Signe Baumane is an icon of independent animation. Her filmography includes over 17 short films to date, and not only is she surviving, but is thriving late into her career after a shift to feature films with 2014’s Rocks in My Pockets. In recognition of her 2nd feature, My Love Affair With Marriage, embarking on a US theatrical run last week we are highlighting her 2009 film, Birth, which is the filmmaker’s last major short film to date.

Birth is an exploration of pregnancy through the perspective of a young naive girl named Amina. Upon discovering that she is carrying, she visits women in her life to understand more about what to expect, only to be shocked and scared by the responses she gets! Their stories and advice are immutably colored by their own experiences and neuroses and, as received by the imaginative Amina, morph into surreally literal depictions of their words in frightening, yet still humorously absurd ways.

This approach is typical of Baumane, who throughout her career has focused on issues of mental health and feminine sexual desire (as well as its consequences), often by utilizing autobiography. Many consider her 15-part micro-series Teat Beat of Sex to be her masterpiece, as she mines her sexual history for material in a manner that feels like a direct portal to the artist’s Id. However, closely connected to that frank discussion of sexuality is the reality of mental health, and her feature, Rocks in My Pockets, again utilizes an autobiographical approach as she examines the recurrence of depression across generations of her family.

In a piece featured on Cartoon Brew, Baumane attributes this juxtaposition of the weighty and silly in her work to her transatlantic biography. After beginning her career in Latvia, she moved to New York in 1995 where she started work at Bill Plympton’s studio. From Norstein and Švankmajer to Plymptoons is quite the divide, but Baumane believes, “My work is a combination of these two contradicting influences – the serious, moody, artsy Eastern European with upbeat, funny, gag-based American animation.”

While her appealing style and unique storytelling voice have secured her reputation, making a go of it as an independent animator is not for the faint of heart, especially in a place like NYC. She notably shared her process and her worries on her blog during the production of Rocks in My Pockets, and despite the global acclaim for that film, this latest production was no easier, as she  notes that My Love Affair With Marriage “took seven years to make and was financed with the help of 1,685 individual donors along with grants from many arts and cultural institutions.” I have my ticket for tomorrow night (see screenings) and our friends at New Europe are handling overseas sales. We hope strong word-of-mouth will make this theatrical tour a success and build up momentum for award season, not only for Baumane’s sake but for all the animators who are inspired by her and her career arc. Good luck!