Signe Baumane’s ‘My Love Affair With Marriage’ Readies Touring Show To More Than 20 Cities, With Filmmaker In Person
Signe Baumane’s My Love Affair with Marriage is set to kick off an unorthodox theatrical run this week, which organizers have dubbed the Animation Rock Tour.
Starting on October 6, the film, its filmmaker, and its producer will accompany the film in a series of event screenings in more than 20 major cities across North America. The film’s first stop is New York City, where it will enjoy a week-long Oscar-qualifying run at the Quad Cinema.
Following the New York run, Baumane and producer Sturgis Warner will spend over two months on the road introducing the film to new audiences, hosting Q&As, sharing behind-the-scenes stories and artwork, and even giving out original drawings used in the movie.
To plan the film’s tour, Baumane and Warner teamed with marketing and distribution producer Jon Reiss and his team at 8 Above. In addition to traditional promotional strategies like social media campaigns and press releases, the My Love Affair team is seeking out local organizations in each city that deal with themes touched on in the film and inviting them to participate in the screenings. In New York, groups from Ghetto Film School, domestic awareness group Day One, and the Russian-Speaking American LGBTQ+ Association have all signed on.
According to the team:
A new model for distributing independent films has been emerging in the U.S.: filmmakers taking control of their own distribution process, traveling with their films, and creating events around the screenings. We are fiercely embracing it.
After the New York screenings, the tour will head to Los Angeles, where it will get a preview screening on October 12 at Laemmle Royal before a five-day run at Laemmle Glendale from October 13-18. Full tour details can be found on the film’s website.
My Love Affair with Marriage is the first-person account of how songs and fairytales convinced young Zelma that love would one day solve all her problems. As she grows up, the young woman realizes her world is unlike the one she was promised. A coming-of-age story that follows its protagonist through much of her life, the film also features interspersed biological segments that scientifically explain much of what Zelma is experiencing.
Among the film’s impressive list of honors are a Zagreb grand prize, an Annecy jury distinction, a Bucheon special distinction, a Fredrikstad best film win, and a European Film Award nomination for best animated European film.
