Aug 4, 2023

Signe Baumane's "An Affair over Marriage" will open in theaters in the U.S. in October.

Distributor 8 Above will release Signe Baumane's "My Love Affair with Marriage" in limited release in the United States this October.

The film has won numerous honors, including the Zagreb Grand Prize, Annecy Special Jury Prize, Tomikawa Special Award, Fredrikstad Best Film Award, and a European Film Award nomination for Best Animated Film.

"Love to Marry" is a first-person story about a young Zelma who believes, through songs and fairy tales, that love will one day solve all her problems. As she grows up, however, Zelma realizes that the world she lives in is far from the one she was promised. The film, a coming-of-age story that follows most of the protagonist's life, is also interspersed with biological aspects that provide a scientific explanation for much of what Zelma is experiencing. Lessons on brain chemistry, anthropology, and the structure of love provide the audience with a master class in human behavior.

Baumane spoke with Cartoon Brew last year, around the time her film began screening at the wonderful film festival that began in Tribeca in June 2022. [This is a technique that was used to great effect in her previous film, "Rocks in My Pockets," which won the Jury Prize and FIPRESCI Award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2014 and was Latvia's entry for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film that year.

"My Love Affair with Marriage" will screen at The Quad in New York City on October 6 and at the Laemmle Glendale in Los Angeles on October 13 (with a preview screening at the Laemmle Royal on October 12). Screenings in other cities are planned.