My Love Affair with Marriage

Hungry for love and acceptance, Zelma feels incomplete. Through the filter of unrealistic fairytales and contrived songs, she is positive that love will solve her problems, so long as she behaves like a woman should, per her upbringing. Zelma’s Biology emerges as a character herself, cast as a professor that narrates the trials and tribulations of the young Latvian girl’s physical and emotional maturation. She provides scholarly, lively, and amusing breakdowns of the internal emotional roller coaster that Zelma endures from puberty, to her awkward first sexual encounter, to her marriages. Along this journey, she navigates cold parents, a Greek chorus of Eastern European sirens that attempt to thwart her emotional progress, and pompous, selfish male partners. Seventeen-time FFF alumni (and Grand Jury Award winner for “Teat Beat of Sex,” FFF 2008), Signe Baumane’s latest film is an audacious presentation, juxtaposing traditional hand-drawn and stop-motion animation, layered upon 3D backgrounds and sets. A tale as old as time, this film is bolstered by engaging vocal performances, lifted by an inventive and informative screenplay, and soars due to its unique and stunning visual flair.