Joann Sfar Draws from Memory

Pictured, Sfar draws at an Algerian-Jewish cafe in Paris.

Citizen Film

Track the graphic artist's odyssey through the Algerian and Eastern-European Jewish heritage that serves as the wellspring of his work. Joann Sfar Draws from Memory, airing Wednesday, August 8, 2012 at 8 p.m. on WXXI World (DT21.2/cable 524), is director Sam Ball’s documentary portrait of the French comic artist and filmmaker. Filmed over a two-year period, the camera follows the passionate and perceptive Sfar around his adopted home of Paris — observing the artist at work and capturing his thoughts on family life, Algeria’s past, creativity and his improvisatory method, the inspiration for his alter-ego cat and his dislike of being pigeonholed as a "Jewish" artist.