NEW YORK, NY.- A Savage Art features political cartoonist Patrick Oliphant who over five decades used his wit and drawing skills to take on the powers that be.
SYNOPSIS
Patrick Oliphant was a giant slayer. In addition to being a fearless stunt pilot, executing dangerous maneuvers just to blow off a little steam, he bravely took on presidents, popes and the American corporate class with his mighty pen. An Australian transplant, Oliphant was America’s most renowned and feared political cartoonist for five decades. With his biting wit and masterful drawing skills he attacked individual and institutional corruption, collusion, greed, hypocrisy and arrogance, no matter the size or status of his enemies.
A Savage Art is the story of Oliphant’s life and celebrated career, told in interviews with Pat, his family, friends and colleagues, in archival footage, and featuring hundreds of his cartoons.
A Savage Art also outlines the history of political cartoons, showing how important and impactful political cartoonists have been throughout the ages, and how, in our current climate of political partisanship and corporate control of the media, political cartoonists like Oliphant are critical to checking the powers that be.
THE FILMMAKERS
BILL BANOWSKY - DIRECTOR/PRODUCER
Bill is an entrepreneur and filmmaker. Bill began his career as an attorney and later served as general counsel to three publicly traded media companies. He served as CEO of Landmark Theaters, which at the time was the largest chain of art house cinemas in the USA. He has started several companies, including Magnolia Pictures, Sky Cinemas (formerly Violet Crown), Nuckolls Brewing Co., and Sky Railway.
Bill was Executive Producer of Alex Gibney’s 2010 film about criminal political consultant Jack Abramoff, Casino Jack and the United States of Money, and the producer of Starving the Beast, a film about the systemic defunding of public higher education in the USA. A Savage Art is Banowsky’s directorial debut. Bill lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his wife, Susan.
PAUL O’BRYAN - PRODUCER
Paul began his career as a feature film editor cutting numerous independent films including Guillermo Del Toro’s award-winning, first feature Cronos. In addition to editing features and television shows over the years, he has also produced and directed myriad shorts, music videos and web spots, as well as the cable pilot, The Opening Night, a behind-the-scenes reality show on creating and opening a restaurant.
He recently edited and co-produced The Dream & The Lie, an experimental art feature film for museums and galleries, made with artist Elena Dorfman. Known for his creativity and passion, A Savage Art is his first collaboration with director/producer Bill Banowsky.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
The idea to create a documentary about Patrick Oliphant and political cartooning came about after my wife, Susan Banowsky, and I moved to Santa Fe ten years ago. We became friends and neighbors with Pat and his wife, Susan Conway. And through our friendship I began to learn more about his work and his life, all of which inspired me to want to create a short film about him.
My original intention was to create a five-minute profile, and in 2018 I began interviewing Pat for that piece. As I began to learn more about Pat’s story and his place in history among the legends of editorial cartooning, it became apparent that the film needed to be a full-length feature. So, in early 2019, I set off to make A Savage Art, my directorial debut.
Our film is based on interviews with Pat, Susan, and their family members; journalists; politicians; and political cartoonists. In addition to interviews the film uses archival photographs, including from the Oliphant family, archival footage shot by various media organizations over the decades, and, of course, Pat's cartoons.
Pat created and published more than 10,000 editorial cartoons during his career. My producing partner, Paul O’Bryan, and I were tasked with selecting the very best to use in our film. This turned out to be an impossible task, as there are far too many outstanding Oliphant cartoons to choose from. We were, though, able to include nearly 350 of his cartoons. A number of these cartoons appear briefly on screen, and many linger, allowing the viewer to more fully absorb and appreciate the drawings and messages.
The film is propelled and anchored by an evocative score from Geneviève Gros-Louis, composer, violinist, and producer from the Huron-Wendat Nation in Wendake, Québec.
I am forever grateful to Patrick Oliphant and Susan Conway for allowing me to tell Patrick’s story, not just his professional story, but his entire story, his human stor y.
PAT OLIPHANT
Pat Oliphant is a renowned Australian-American political cartoonist, illustrator, animator, sculptor, and painter whose career spanned six decades, from 1955 to 2015. A consummate artist, Oliphant excelled not only in illustration and cartooning but also in sculpture and painting, bringing a fine artist's eye to every medium he touched. His work was syndicated in hundreds of newspapers and magazines worldwide, making him one of the most influential figures in political cartooning.
He began as the house cartoonist for The Advertiser in Adelaide, Australia (1955-1964) before moving to the United States, where his cartoons appeared in The Denver Post (1964–1975) and The Washington Star (1975–1981). In 1981, Oliphant began distributing his work through the Universal Press Syndicate, allowing any publication to carry his cartoons. This transition gave him unprecedented creative freedom and international reach.
By the end of the 20th century, Oliphant was widely regarded as the most syndicated and influential political cartoonist in the world. He was known for combining razor sharp commentary with exquisite graphic skill, developing a distinctive style characterized by gritty linework and a small, acerbic background character, Punk the Penguin, who delivered biting side commentar y.
Oliphant was the consummate artist—sculpting, painting as well as illustrating for animations. He received numerous accolades throughout his career, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1967.
FEATURED CARTOONISTS
ANN TELNAES
Ann is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist, known for her distinctive style, and her focus on women's issues, such as abortion rights and third-world pregnancy. She was the second female cartoonist to win the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning (2001) and the first woman to receive both the Pulitzer and the Reuben Award.
ED SOREL
Ed has been a freelance artist since 1957. His illustrations, caricatures, and cartoons have appeared in The Atlantic, Esquire, The Nation, Fortune, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker. He is the author and/or illustrator of twenty books.
ADAM ZYGLIS
Adam’s Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoons are internationally syndicated and have appeared in many publications around the world, including The Washington Post, USA Today, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times. In 2015 he was awarded the Grambs Aronson Cartooning with a Conscience award and the Pulitzer Prize.
