page_title: Seder-Masochism
section_title: Release
hierarchical_section_title: Seder-Masochism / Release
caption_attribution_description: English: Still from the 2018 animated feature film Seder-Masochism by Nina Paley.
context_page_description: Seder-Masochism is a 2018 American animated musical biblical comedy-drama film written, directed, produced and animated by American artist Nina Paley. The film reinterprets the Book of Exodus, especially stories associated with the Passover Seder, such as the death of the Egyptian first-born, and Moses leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. The film depicts these events against a backdrop of widespread worship of the Great Mother Goddess, showing the rise of patriarchy.
  Seder-Masochism is Paley's second feature film, following Sita Sings the Blues in 2008, an animated film loosely based on the Ramayana. In a similar fashion to her previous work, Paley mainly uses previously published music in Seder-Masochism, with popular and liturgical songs ranging from 1928 to 2018. She also draws from spoken voice recordings she made in 2011 with her father, Hiram Paley, who is placed in the role of the traditional Hebrew deity. Greg Sextro served as sound designer on the film.
  With Theodore Gray, Paley formed PaleGray Labs to create a method for animating embroidery, which they call "embroidermation". In Seder-Masochism, embroidered animation is the basis for one scene: "Chad Gadya".
context_section_description: When the film was complete, Paley determined to wait until it had been screened at film festivals before she offered the film for free online in the same manner as Sita Sings the Blues. Earlier, she uploaded some scenes-in-progress to Vimeo and YouTube, including the opening "God-Mother" number in 2017, and "Death of the Firstborn Egyptians" in 2014, the latter gaining 2.7 million views by August 2020. The scene "This Land Is Mine" was first posted in 2012, and by 2014 had received 10 million views, with more viewers added during every news cycle highlighting the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
caption: Moses in front of the Pillar of Fire
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