The Documentary That Every Aspiring Cartoonist Should Watch

This is a review of the documentary Very Semi-Serious: A Partially Thorough Portrait of New Yorker Cartoonists. Directed by Leah Wolchok, "the film goes behind-the-scenes of The New Yorker and introduces the cartooning legends and hopefuls who create the iconic cartoons that have inspired, baffled—and occasionally pissed off—all of us for decades." The documentary featured several of the magazine's most prolific cartoonists - George Booth, Roz Chast, Drew Dernavich, Mort Gerberg, Sam Gross, Ed Steed, Bob Mankoff, and many more. The film won an Emmy in 2016.

Released and aired by HBO in 2015, Very Semi-Serious is a documentary that offers the viewer a picture of The New Yorker’s cartoon culture. Considered as the last bastion of the cartooning industry (of the humor and gags category), The New Yorker doesn’t just publish and print funny cartoons. It publishes and prints funny cartoons that adhere to the magazine’s unique sensibilities and aspirations. Just because you can draw funny cartoons doesn’t necessarily mean you are a good fit for the magazine.

A lot of the footage in the documentary were shot inside the magazine’s offices, as it should be. Cartoonists aspiring to crack the pages of the magazine should take full notes of these scenes as these provide insider tips on how to make it as a cartoonist in the magazine. Several people including the cartoon editor, the art director, and assistants talk in-depth about the kinds of cartoons that get published in the magazine. In one scene, you see them going through a pile of cartoon submissions and dividing them in two paper racks. One rack is marked “Yes” and the other one is marked “No”. Those in the “Yes” rack is one step closer to being published. Those in the “No” rack will be mailed with a rejection letter to the submitter.

Selecting which cartoons get published is a simple yet complicated process. The cartoon editor meets with regular contributors every week. These regular contributors usually submit 8 to 10 ideas each during these weekly meetings. On top of these regular contributors are the thousand or so unsolicited cartoons sent in by mail or hand-delivered. So on average, the magazine’s cartoon department goes through 1000 to 1500 cartoons every week. Only 15 to 20 of these are chosen and bought by the magazine for publication.

Several of the magazine’s regular contributors are in the documentary talking about how they made it as cartoonists. If there’s one glue that keeps their experiences together, that glue is named “patience”. One cartoonist says he submitted more than 2000 cartoons before his first sale. Another doggedly submitted cartoons for 25 years before his first piece got accepted and published.

Needless to say, the documentary isn’t too encouraging for cartoonists aspiring to crack the pages of The New Yorker. Imagine submitting thousands of cartoons before selling one. Imagine sending in your cartoons for more than two decades before making a sale. And these are just those who made it. How about the hundreds of cartoonists who submitted their work but were never published?

The documentary isn’t all gloom and doom for aspiring cartoonists. A source of inspiration in the film is the story of Liana Finck. We see her entering The New Yorker offices and showing her drawings to the cartoon editor. We see her face get disappointed as the cartoon editor critics her work. We see her get inside the office a few more times. She receives encouraging words from the editor but she is yet to make a sale. Near the end of the documentary, the camera follows Finck as she shows a physical copy of the magazine featuring her first published cartoon. It’s an image of slinkies climbing up the stairs.

Liana Finck is now one of the magazine’s regular contributors. She has a growing number of following online. She has nearly half a million followers on Instagram. She even has a few books under her belt. If you want to get into her work, a good start would be Passing for Human: a Graphic Memoir. It's really good.

Documentary On Kalinga Tattoo Artist Whang-od Makes It To The Cannes Film Festival In France

Whang-od Oggay's stock as one of the foremost traditional tattoo artists in Asia will likely rise with the inclusion of a short documentary about her in the upcoming Cannes Film Festival in France. The 15-minute documentary aptly titled Blood and Ink (Dugo at Tinta) will be among the hundreds of short films to be screened during the prestigious festival which will run from May 17 to May 28, 2017. Blood and Ink (Dugo at Tinta) will be part of the festival's Short Film Corner. It's worth noting here that the Short Film Corner is a film market and not part of the festival's competition section.

Directed by Jill Damatac Futter, Blood and Ink (Dugo at Tinta) merges the story of the beloved traditional tattoo artist with that of the budding filmmaker who just returned to her home country (Philippines) after spending 22 years as an illegal/undocumented immigrant in the United States. Futter made the film while studying at the University of the Arts London - London College of Communication. She submitted it to the university as part of her Master of Arts thesis.

In the words of the filmmaker, Blood and Ink (Dugo at Tinta) was conceived as a portrait documentary but it evolved into a meditation on identity as her re-connection with her roots significantly influenced the direction and overall theme of the film.

A large-than-life portrait of Whang-od at an art exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada last year. Photo courtesy of Kayleen Kwet.

Here's the synopsis for the film: "Conceived as a portrait documentary about a 97-year-old indigenous tribal tattooist in the Philippine mountains, this film evolved into an intimately subjective essay documentary as the filmmaker recognized that the personal catharsis of discovering her paternal roots inevitably influenced the film's shape. Blood + Ink (Dugo at Tinta) explores identity, both personal and national, through the story of Apo Whang-Od Oggay and through director Jill Damatac Futter's own story after 22 years away from the Philippines as an illegal immigrant in the United States."

Just a quick note: I've seen news stories and articles about Whang-od referring to her as the last Kalinga traditional tattoo artist. No, that is not the case at all. A lot of those in her tribe (Butbut) know the craft. In fact, Whang-od has taught the art to some of the girls in her village (a few of them in their teens). She has taught them the way she was taught when she was their age. So the claim that Whang-od is the last traditional Kalinga tatto artist is simply false and completely misinformed.

Related stories:
1. A Quick Guide For Those Planning To Visit Whang-od In Buscalan, Tinglayan, Kalinga
2. Kalinga Tattoo Artist Whang-od Likely To Receive National Living Treasures Award
3. Bid To Declare Kalinga Tattoo Artist Whang-od As A National Artist Gains Momentum
4. Kalinga Tattoo Artist Apo Whang-od Featured In An Art Exhibit In Toronto, Canada

Watch The Teaser For "Walang Rape Sa Bontok", An Upcoming Documentary By Carla Ocampo

This coming September 24 to 30, the inaugural edition of Cine Totoo: Philippine International Documentary Film Festival will unfold at three key cinema locations in Metro Manila (SM Megamall, SM Manila and Trinoma Cinemas). Film enthusiasts will be treated to a slew of documentaries by eleven independent filmmakers from all over the country. Said documentaries tackle themes that run the gamut from life in Filipino communities abroad, to the plight of small scale miners in Benguet, to the evolution of Filipino komiks.

Among the documentaries to be screened in the festival is Carla Ocampo's Walang Rape sa Bontok. The endeavor revolves around two Filipinas who were both victims of sexual assaults. In their search for a place where women aren't sexually violated, they came across a study by an anthropologist named June Prill-Brett. Said study made the assertion that the native Bontoks of the Cordillera region have lived for generations without a concept and not even a term for "rape".

This serves as the foundation for the documentary. Is the assertion true? If it is true before, is it still true today? From the synopsis provided by the Habi Collective on their Facebook page, it does seem to imply that things did change. Driving the point a little bit deeper is the teaser for the documentary below which shows elders who have lived through two eras: an era where rape was non-existent and an era where it sprouted its ugly head. So in a sense, this is a documentary that compares an older era to the current one with women's issues as the comparison point.

This is not the only documentary in the festival with Cordilleran themes. Also screening in the festival is Ferdie Balanag's Agbalbalitok which will take viewers to a first-hand look into the lives of small scale miners in Benguet.