Funding "Women Laughing"

From Kickstarter.

Women Laughing is a documentary about the diverse women cartoonists who have graced the pages of The New Yorker from the first issue to the present day, as well as a fun, insightful journey into how women’s humor reflects their struggles and helps us to see differently.

As of June 2025, we have completed filming! 

Now that we've wrapped shooting, we're working hard to get the film across the finish line in time to celebrate 100 years of The New Yorker. 

Join us on our final Kickstarter journey to support our post-production (editing, sound mixing, etc) and premiere plans, and get exclusive insider peeks of the process along the way.

About the film

In Women Laughing, New Yorker cartoonist Liza Donnelly sets out to explore her lifelong passion for humor and cartooning by talking with, and drawing with, other funny women. 

These fantastic and groundbreaking women will include the iconic Roz Chast; Amy Hwang, the magazine’s first Asian woman cartoonist; stand up cartoonist Emily Flake; and Bishakh Som, the magazine’s first trans woman cartoonist, among others.

For centuries, women and people of color were mostly kept away from the gates of humor. 

In this entertaining and eye-opening film, Donnelly also draws on her acclaimed book, Very Funny Ladies, which tells the little-known story of the women cartoonists who have appeared on the pages of the celebrated magazine since it was founded nearly 100 years ago.

This film will explore how women’s humor is changing the narrative by helping us see the world differently. And it's really funny!

Donnelly’s journey is to understand the lure of humor, especially for women cartoonists. What are they working towards? The next laugh, or something more profound?

The film is currently in post-production, and we are aiming to premiere by the end of 2025, as The New Yorker is turning 100 years old this year.

Liza is working with director Kathleen Hughes, a three time Emmy-award winning filmmaker, whose most recent films include The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales with Abigail Disney, and Two American Families with Bill Moyers, as well as with producer Judith Mizrachy whose recent films include the Booksellers, Uncropped, and the Oscar-nominated The Martha Mitchell Effect and producer Nathalie Seaver whose recent projects include Oscar-nominated, The Martha Mitchell Effect ; James Carville, Winning Is Everything, Stupid; Spiegelman, Disaster Is My Muse, and the upcoming Speak.

Other team members include Oscar and Emmy-winning editors Andrew Fredericks and Kate Amend, graphic designer Matt Eller, and award-winning composer Kathryn Bostic (Toni Morrison, The Pieces I Am). 

Combined, our team has deep knowledge and passion for film and for telling these women's stories.

We would love to have you as part of the team! 

Make sure to be following us on Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date with the project!