The Angoulême International Comics Festival celebrates its 50th edition from Thursday, betting on manga to attract crowds, after the controversy which caused the Bastien Vivès exhibition to be canceled.
The event is the first exhibition in Europe of Hajime Isayama, author of
Attack on Titan
, a worldwide success in books and animated series.
This 36-year-old international manga star will give a "
masterclass
" on Saturday at the Angoulême theater, which is already sold out.
Other "
mangakas
" honored with an exhibition each: Ryoichi Ikegami, 78, famous for his gangster characters, designer of the series
Crying Freeman
among others , and Junji Itô, 59, whose work in horror has just been adapted into a series by Netflix (
Maniac by Junji Ito, macabre anthology
).
Read alsoJunji Itô, splendid master of horror, honored in Angoulême
Manga, Japanese comics, or Japanese-inspired comics, have carved out a place of choice among booksellers in France in recent years.
In 2022 according to the GfK institute, of the 100 best-selling books, a quarter were manga.
Recover attendance
The Manga City space, a 2500 m2 pavilion, is a must for fans, with meetings, debates, screenings and even drawing lessons.
Added to this is Halle 57, redecorated like a large Asian city under the name of Alligator 57. It's no secret: the famous Festival is struggling to make ends meet, despite its nearly 200,000 visitors in good years, in a city of 42,000 inhabitants.
Recovering attendance seems essential after a 2022 edition which had suffered from its postponement in March due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The number of visitors had not been communicated, but it was visibly lower than that of the previous edition, in 2020, while that of 2021 had been canceled.
Read also50th Angoulême BD Festival: our 10 essential award-winning albums
As the departmental daily
La Charente libre
pointed out at the beginning of January, local authorities and other public partners “
are not stingy with subsidies.
Depending on the year, they bring between 1.6 and 2.2 million euros
”, or almost half of the budget.
For the city of Charente, which has lost a good part of its industries, the Festival is the showcase of an economy that relies on creative studios and cultural tourism.
“Necessary debate”
The highlight is the annual presentation of the Grand Prize of the City of Angoulême to an author consecrated by a vote of his peers for all of his work.
The ceremony takes place on Wednesday evening.
The three contenders this year are the American Alison Bechdel, the French Catherine Meurisse and the Franco-Syrian Riad Sattouf.
Catherine Meurisse is a finalist for the fourth consecutive year.
Is it the right one?
To read alsoCatherine Meurisse, Riad Sattouf or Alison Bechdel: who will be the Grand Prix of the next BD festival in Angoulême?
She is facing two very popular rivals, a designer who has carried the feminist cause high, beyond comics with the famous "Bechdel test" to know if a film is macho, and the author of
L'Arabe du future
, who in 2016 had declined to be a candidate for this award when discovering that he was with 29 other men, and zero women.
The Angoulême Festival has gone through many controversies.
This year, it concerned an exhibition which was to be called
In the eyes of Bastien Vivès
.
The idea that this author, accustomed to coming to signings, is entitled to this honor has aroused the indignation of petitioners and associations hostile to his work, where certain titles mix minors and pornography.
The exhibition will not take place.
Read alsoWho wants the skin of the turbulent and provocative Bastien Vivès?
“
I think there was a lack of explanation upstream
,” said Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak in mid-January, interviewed in the French daily
Le Monde
.
“
But he missed a necessary time for debate after the controversy
”.