Art Spiegelman’s legacy is one that redefined both an industry and a generation.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning “Maus” author is at the center of the documentary “Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse.” Molly Bernstein and Philip Dolin direct together film which had its world premiere at the 2024 DOC NYC, where it was was awarded top prize for the festival’s Metropolis competition.
The official synopsis reads: “Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel ‘Maus’ is a landmark reckoning with the Holocaust and a breakthrough in serious comic art—but his full achievement is more remarkable and eclectic. Spiegelman proves an eloquent guide through his provocative work, alongside contemporary and younger cartoonists inspired by Spiegelman’s unflinching confrontation of personally traumatic themes.”
Robert Crumb, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Françoise Mouly, Charles Burns, Joe Sacco, Molly Crabapple, J. Hoberman, Ken Jacobs, Najda Spiegelman and Dash Spiegelman appear in the feature.
The film begins in the 1960s with Spiegelman co-creating Wacky Packages cards and continuing with him co-founding underground series magazines Arcade with Bill Griffith and Raw with his wife Françoise Mouly. Spiegelman’s piece “In the Shadow of No Towers” about his reaction to 9/11, inspired by witnessing the attacks from his lower Manhattan home, as well as his controversial covers for The New Yorker from 1993 to 2003 are also included. Spiegelman’s pieces led to the NYPD raiding the New Yorker offices, and “Maus” was recently banned by a Tennessee school board. “Maus” serialized from 1980 to 1991 and in 1992 became the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize. The book is about Spiegelman interviewing his father about his experiences as a Holocaust survivor.
As the DOC NYC jury so aptly stated, “Disaster Is My Muse” captures the “countless ways in which Spiegelman’s beautiful, haunting work continues to resonate today.”
The film is further presented as a “portrait of an artist fully committed to his past and present who, with his comics, helps us understand our turbulent world and is a testimony to the power of art to understand our personal and collective history.” according to the loggrade.
“Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse” is executive produced by Michael Kantor and Lauren Lexton, with Alicia Sams and Sam Jinishian producing.
“Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse” premieres Feb. 21 at Film Forum and will later expand nationally in select markets. Check out the trailer below.
