The 2026 Dialogues Documentary Festival kicked off from Milwaukee film this week. Turner Classic Films had a crew in the house shooting footage for an upcoming segment on the Oriental Theatre and there was a decent sized crowd to see a pair of documentary shorts at the beginning of the festival under the title “Drawing Lines.”
The pair of shorts included “The Life of the Party” directed by Meg Griffiths and Scott Faris and “Women Laughing” directed by Kathleen Hughes and Liza Donnelly.
Here’s the description of the program from Milwaukee Film:
Uniting two midlength documentaries about women challenging boundaries, Drawing Lines explores reinvention, and what happens when women draw lines of their own. From three Texan leaders navigating political divisions to the history of The New Yorker’s cartoonists, these films consider who gets to shape the conversation
“The Life of the Party” has a juicy political topic. It wants to discuss the experience and view points of Republican Women Lawmakers, and erstwhile Lawmakers, in Texas, a bastion of conservative politics. Focusing on three women, outgoing Lawmaker Geanie Morrison who’s been in politics since the 1980s, former moderate Sarah Davis, who’s was against the anti-abortion agenda of her party due to her staunch belief in limited government, and newcomer, Latina Mayra Flores who was part of the 2024 Hispanic crossover with Trump.
It’s intermittent fascinating and maddening. We see several Republican leaders proclaim that Republican women are “the life of the party” but little follow-through on what that actually means. There are several observations that politics have become increasingly polarized, but no reflection on how they may or may not have contributed to that and no solutions. Marya Flores is clearly not going to say anything that discusses her campaign talking points in nuance and Geanie Morrison is too much of a party senior to say much beyond personal experience, so that pretty much leaves Sarah Davis to carry the load. Fortunately, she’s articulate, charismatic, and has a well-defined set of values she can articulate which means that even if you don’t agree you can understand where she’s coming from. And why she became inconvenient to her party. But she clearly clearly has a clear conscience and left the office never sobbing over a vote she didn’t believe in. If that documentary doesn’t shed much light on Texas politics and how we became so polarized and divided, it sheds a lot of light on Sarah Davis.
One of the things that came to mind watching it was this is a good companion piece to BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY. Both bands featured over the top frontmen who were only just barely plausibly deniable about their sexual leanings. Both bands most popular songs are basically nursery rhyme nonsense. One cemented their legacy at Live Aid, while one damaged themselves by dithering until they were uninvited. One frontman died tragically young, while one survived and apparently was not forgiven. One movie made a billion and the other, the non-whitewashed one, won’t.
“Women Laughing” is another documentary about women in a male dominated field. This being cartoonists for the New Yorker.
The documentary is produced by the New Yorker and has a fine veneer of polish. With an array of cartoonists, with their illustrations depicted on the screen for added visual interest, it keeps the subject matter fast, lively, funny, and frequently illuminating. Perhaps because their business is expressing their thoughts, there’s seldom a sense that anything is being held back and it’s frequently very revealing. Even if what it reveals if who struggles with drawing cats. But when it gets to female cartoonists drawing female bodies and what it reveals about them, you get a real sense of why it’s valuable that they’re contributing. They bring something unique to the literal table they are often sitting around doodling at.
Just in the ability to get women to open up and discuss their inner thoughts, the “slighter” “Women Laughing” is the more penetrating film. Maybe it’s too much of a New Yorker puff piece, but these women honestly and openly expressing themselves and offering real insight made it the more rewarding film. Maybe because the stakes are lower, there’s very little guardedness about speaking on camera. And certainly it’s a much more fun watch.
The 2026 Dialogues Documentary Film Festival runs from September 24 to 27, 2026. Further information on the festival, and films that screened can be found at Milwaukee Film’s website.
