Film Society of Lincoln Center Announces Cartoonists, Foot Soldiers of Democracy Special Screening

The Film Society of Lincoln Center, in partnership with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy NY, Unifrance Films, Distrib Films, and Kinology, will host a special screening and the North American premiere of Stéphanie Valloatto's Cartoonists, Foot Soldiers of Democracy on Friday, January 23 at 7:30pm. All proceeds for the event will go to Reporters Without Borders, the largest press freedom organization in the world, with almost 30 years of experience. Tickets are $15 and on sale now, visit filmlinc.com to purchase and for more information. Special thanks to Distrib Films and Kinology for supplying the film.

Acclaimed director Radu Mihaileanu (The Concert, The Source, Train of Life, Live and Become), who co-wrote and produced the film, teams up with Plantu, a cartoonist with the French daily newspaper Le Monde for the last 40 years, to tell the story of 12 cartoonists from all over the world whose theme of democracy is represented throughout their work. The documentary explores the risks they run every day-often finding themselves on the front lines-and the reactions and debates they provoke, giving us a subtle insight into the state of freedom of expression and democracy in the world today.

The cartoonists profiled in the film are French, Tunisian, Russian, American, Burkinabese, Chinese, Mexican, Algerian, Ivorian, Venezuelan, Israeli, Palestinian and include:

PLANTU
Name: Jean Plantureux
Pen name: Plantu
Nationality: French
Hometown: Paris
Profession: Editorial cartoonist
Publication(s): Le Monde, L'Express

Forty years and counting on the front page of Le Monde. Chairman and co-founder of Cartooning for Peace. Plantu is the film's guide in the cartoon world, connecting the dots between the other cartoonists.

SLIM
Name: Menouar Merabtène
Pen name: Slim?
Nationality: Algerian
Hometown: Algiers
Profession: Cartoonist and comic-book illustrator
Publication(s): Le Soir d'Algérie

Slim was the first Algerian cartoonist to dare caricature a president in 1984 with President Chadli. The day it was published, the 80,000 copies of the newspaper were pulled. In 1992, the fundamentalists' election victory gave Slim plenty of material for his cartoons but the assassination of President Boudiaf and journalist friends drove him into exile in Morocco, where he continues to be a thorn in the fundamentalists' side.

RAYMA SUPRANI
Name: Rayma Suprani?
Pen name: Rayma?
Nationality: Venezuelan
Hometown: Caracas
Profession: Cartoonist?
Publication(s): El Universal?

A cartoonist for El Universal who is regularly threatened because of her satirical depictions of the regime. She only travels with caution to avoid unnecessary risks.?When the new Constitution banned depictions of the President's face, she drew a banana wearing a crown, which was immediately recognized by the whole country as Chavez. For Rayma, the new president, Maduro, changes nothing. The fight goes on.

Boligán
Name: Angel Boligán?
Pen name: Boligán?
Nationality: Cuban?
Hometown: Mexico City?
Profession: Cartoonist?
Publication(s): El Universal - Conozca Más?

Born in Cuba, and immigrated to Mexico, where Boligán was advised to avoid three particular subjects: the President, the army, and the Virgin of Guadalupe. They went straight to the top of his agenda and he has drawn them every day since. Today, he also tackles drug cartels responsible for 15,000 deaths a year in Mexico.

ZLATKOVSKY
Name: Mikhail Zlatkovsky
Pen name: Zlatkovsky
Nationality: Russian
Hometown: Moscow
Profession: Political cartoonist?
Publication(s): Noyve Izvestia?

The best-known cartoonist in Russia, winner of hundreds of international awards, and the only one who dares to draw Putin. As he was in Brezhnev's day, he is now banned from publishing his work. To make ends meet, he has even worked as an unlicensed nighttime taxi driver.

KICHKA
Name: Michel Kichka?
Pen name: Kichka?
Nationality: Belgian-Israeli?
Hometown: Jerusalem?
Profession: Political cartoonist?
Publication(s): Several international publications, Courrier International, Herald Tribune, L'Arche, on i24 News, various websites, and TV5 Monde

Kichka is one of the greatest cartoon exponents in Israel, and is second generation after the Holocaust. He is convinced that cartoonists have a common goal: telling it straight. He is good friends with his Palestinian colleague Boukhari.

BOUKHARI
Name: Baha Boukhari?
Pen name: Boukhari?
Nationality: Palestinian?
Hometown: Ramallah?
Profession: Cartoonist?
Publication(s): Al-Ayyam?

Boukhari published his first cartoon in 1964. He frequently takes part in debates in Jerusalem.?He senses ambivalence in the treatment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and firmly believes in peace and is convinced that one day they will all learn to live together.

PI SAN
Name: Wang Bo?
Pen name: Pi San?
Nationality: Chinese?
Hometown: Beijing?
Profession: Animation cartoonist, director of Hutoon Company?Media: Huttoon Co.?

Through his animated cartoons for grown-ups, aired only on the Internet, he tries to denounce injustices in modern China, preserving what he calls his "inner freedom" in the face of daily censorship.

NADIA KHIARI
aka Willis from Tunis
Name: Nadia Khiari?
Pen name: Willis from Tunis?
Nationality: Tunisian?
Hometown: Tunis?
Profession: Cartoonist - Illustrator?
Publication(s): Freelance?

Willis is the name of Nadia Khiari's famous cat, which became a symbol of the Tunisian revolution, and to maintain her freedom, she only publishes online. Her Facebook page has 30,000 followers and?Willis's enemies include Fundamentalists, politicians who hijacked the revolution, opponents of women's rights, and those who cause bloodshed.

DANZIGER
Name: Jeff Danziger
Pen name: Danziger?
Nationality: American?
Hometown: New York City?
Profession: Cartoonist, former intelligence officer, published by The New York Times syndicate
Publication(s): hundreds, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Le Monde, International Mail, China Daily?

An intelligence officer and linguist during the Vietnam War. Published by The New York Times syndicate covering a hundred or so publications, one of the leading opponents of G.W. Bush, and also fights economic censorship (media stockholders) and the barbarity of war (Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.). Behind the headline-grabbing cartoons is a man full of humor and mischievousness.

ZOHORÉ
Name: Lassane Zohoré?
Pen name: Zohoré?
Nationality: Ivorian?
Hometown: Abidjan?
Profession: Cartoonist, founder of Gbich magazine and Tâche d'Encre association, comic-book author
Publication(s): Gbich

Cartoonist and founder of Gbich magazine. For Zohoré, drawing is a duty he imposes on himself when the death squads and civil war are raging to give another point of view and cheer up the population.

GLEZ
Name: Damien Glez?
Pen name: Glez?
Nationality: French-Burkinabese?
Hometown: Ouagadougou?
Profession: Cartoonist - Editor of Le Journal du jeudi?
Publication(s): Le Journal du Jeudi?

Half-French, half-Burkinabese cartoonist and editor of the first African satirical magazine, Le Journal du Jeudi. In Africa, where 60% of the population is illiterate, he believes cartoons play an even greater role than anywhere else. On the front page of Le Journal du Jeudi, Glez frequently depicts President Blaise Compaoré in caricatures instantly recognizable to the population.

ABOUT REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS, FOR FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
Reporters Sans Frontieres - Reporters Without Borders is the largest press freedom organization in the world, with almost 30 years of experience. Thanks to its unique global network of 150 local correspondents investigating in 130 countries, 11 national offices, and a consultative status at the UN and UNESCO, RSF is able to have a global impact, gather on-the-ground information, conduct major advocacy campaigns, and assist and defend news providers all across the world.

FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER
Founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, the Film Society of Lincoln Center works to recognize established and emerging filmmakers, support important new work, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility, and understanding of the moving image. The Film Society produces the renowned New York Film Festival, a curated selection of the year's most significant new film work, and presents or collaborates on other annual New York City festivals including Dance on Camera, Film Comment Selects, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, NewFest, New York African Film Festival, New York Asian Film Festival, New York Jewish Film Festival, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema and Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. In addition to publishing the award-winning Film Comment magazine, the Film Society recognizes an artist's unique achievement in film with the prestigious Chaplin Award, whose 2015 recipient is Robert Redford. The Film Society's state-of-the-art Walter Reade Theater and the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, located at Lincoln Center, provide a home for year-round programs and the New York City film community.

The Film Society receives generous, year-round support from Royal Bank of Canada, Jaeger-LeCoultre, American Airlines, The New York Times, HBO, Stella Artois, The Kobal Collection, Variety, Trump International Hotel and Tower, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

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