To mark The New Yorker’s founding in 1925, directors Guto Terni, Marcos Kotlhar, and the animation crew at ROOF Studio distill a sense of the magazine’s enduring visual wit and cultural resonance from over 5,000 pieces of cover art.

Guto Terni: “It was a surreal honor to work on this project. We’re talking about 100 years of a weekly magazine that hasn’t just reported on history — it has helped shape it. Each cover is a time capsule, and watching them in a sequence is like watching history unfold — with art as the lens.
 

“Each cover is a time capsule, and watching them in a sequence is like watching history unfold — with art as the lens.“

 
“The script isn’t a single linear story, but a series of reflections on the world that make you pause and think, laugh and cry. In visually translating these reflections, we chose covers that could echo the tone of each line, adding extra layers of emotion and symbolic stimulus for the viewer.

“Considering the breadth of source material, ROOF built an internal search tool that tagged each cover with deep metadata — theme, color palette, composition, keywords, and historical context. This system enabled the team to organize its findings and match each script beat with the most resonant image.

“Creating each chapter of this film was a journey in and of itself, and marrying it all together with fluidity and emotional impact was a creatively rewarding process. The key was staying true to the editorial voice of The New Yorker. It’s a magazine that looks at the world closely, with wit and honesty.”
 
 

 
Client: The New Yorker, Condé Nast

Agency: Le Truc
Partner/CCO: Marcos Kotlhar
ECD: Evan Schultz
CD: Daniela Gilsanz
ACD: Jose Contreras & Sam Geloso
Sr. Writer: Max Cohen
SVP, Strategy Director: Patrick Tomasiewicz
EVP, Head of Production: Ryan Chong
VP, Supervising EP: Michael Lenic
Producer: Ryan McNally
Production Coordinator: Matthew Hsieh

Production: ROOF Studio
Director: Guto Terni, Marcos Kotlhar (Le Truc)
EP: Fernanda Curi
Line Producer: Fernanda Fraiz
Head Producer: Heloísa Novaes
Pipeline TD/Programming: Carlos Hallan
Animation Director: Bruno Ferrari, Guilherme Ferreirinha
Simulation: Heber Conde
Graphic Designer: Bianca Baderna, Carolina Alberti, Natalia Veras
Animator: Bruno Ferrari, Christopher Rocha, Guilherme Ferreirinha, Larissa Garcia, Paulo Passaro, Rafael Valle, Sergio Filho
Research: Fabio Fluchs, Bruno Lovato
Compositor/Color: Pedro Fernandes, Guto Terni
Editor: Bruno Ferrari, Rafael Valle, Pedro Fernandes

Post: PXP Studios, US
Sr. Editor: Dan Goldstein
Editor: Julia Marshall
Producer: Kendra Crone

Music: Human