PMA Films: Women Laughing (Encore Screening)

37 minutes. Directed by Liza Donnelly. Not Rated. In English.

In Women Laughing, longtime New Yorker cartoonist Liza Donnelly sets out to explore her lifelong passion for women’s humor and cartooning by speaking, laughing, and drawing with a diverse group of remarkable women who create cartoons for the iconic magazine. Inspired by her acclaimed book Very Funny Ladies and Liza’s own biography, the film looks at how far women have come in a field historically dominated by men. Women Laughing includes intimate conversations with some of the most celebrated and groundbreaking cartoonists at The New Yorker including Roz Chast, Emily Flake, Sarah Akinterinwa, Liana Fink, Amy Hwang, and Bishakh Som. Liza also speaks with Emma Allen, the magazine’s first female cartoon editor. During a dynamic group roundtable discussion with ten cartoonists, we also meet artists Emily Sanders Hopkins, Maggie Larson, Arenza Pena-Popo and Victoria Roberts.

Together, they reflect on what drives them, the obstacles they’ve faced, their creative processes, and much more. The film also journeys back in time to the earliest days of The New Yorker, a magazine founded in 1925 by journalists Harold Ross and Jane Grant. Surprisingly, the very first issue featured a cartoon by a woman, Brooklyn native Ethel Plummer. And there were several other women drawing in those early days. Women Laughing features some of their pioneering work and reveals that by the 1950s women cartoonists had all but disappeared from the magazine, not significantly returning until the late 1970s. A hundred years since its founding, the cartoons of The New Yorker remain the benchmark of the form, beloved around the world. And the magazine has seen tremendous progress. Today half of the artists identify as female or non-binary, and many more people of color are joining the community, bringing cartoons to new audiences. Women Laughing offers a unique look at how women cartoonists, past and present, have used single panel drawings to express their lived experiences. The film is ultimately a joyful celebration of women, art, and the creative spirit.