Unleash Your Inner Goddess with Nina Paley’s Biblical Epic ‘Seder-Masochism’

Nina’s Paley’s new feature Seder-Masochism takes audiences on a wild ride through the traditional Passover Seder, proffering a splendid cornucopia of rich 2D and Flash animation set to musical themes ranging from liturgical to pop.

Loosely following a traditional Passover Seder, events from the Book of Exodus are retold by Moses, Aharon, the Angel of Death, Jesus, and the director’s own father. But there’s another side to this story: that of the Goddess, humankind’s original deity. Seder-Masochism resurrects the Great Mother in a tragic struggle against the forces of Patriarchy.

Besides 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 as “the establishment of complete patriarchy, the elimination of any remaining goddess-worship from older times,” as she describes in an interview with Global Voices.

Seder-Masochism was selected to compete at this year’s Annecy festival this past June, as well as Poland’s ANIMATOR festival, where it won the feature film audience award. The film travels next to Animix, running August 7-11 in Tel Aviv, and the Ottawa International Animation Festival in September.

Groove into summer and unleash your inner goddess with the Pointer Sisters and Paley’s animated stone goddesses dancing to the infectious “You Gotta Believe” by Norman Whitfield in the video below:

Learn more about the making of Seder-Masochism on Paley’s blog (including the identity of the mysterious Producer X and 24 goddess GIFs), and check out the trailer and poster along with more musical clips, GIFs and stills from the film below. Want more? Try to resist some of the sweet merch available here and here.