The Angoulême International Comic Festival, the most important in Europe and held every year in this town in the south of France since 1974, is going through the biggest crisis in its history to the point that the current edition, number 56, which was to be held at the end of January, could be cancelled. The controversy began with the boycott of the participating authors and the publishers that publish them, who denounce the mismanagement by the organizers of the contest and the dismissal of an employee who filed a rape complaint last year. The Government has announced a cut in public subsidies for the event.
“We find it more than difficult to maintain this edition (…) It is the authors, and also the publishers, who make the festival possible. Without them there is no festival, and without the competition there is no public subsidy,” admitted the mayor of Angoulême, Xavier Bonnefont, during a press conference held this Wednesday. The festival attracts around 200,000 comic fans each year, so its suspension is a blow to this municipality, which is mainly known for its prestigious cartoon festival.
At the origin of the controversy is the company 9e Art+ (ninth art), in charge of managing the event since 2008, but criticized for years for its lack of transparency and bad practices. The culmination was the dismissal last year of an employee who had filed a rape complaint against one of the contest’s collaborators. The contract of this company had just been extended for the next two editions, but the authors have stood down.
In a column published on Sunday in the newspaper Humanity, 285 designers denounce that “working and reception conditions have degraded in the last 20 years. Historically, women and minorities have been made invisible. Over time we have made a space for ourselves and now we raise our voices so that we can be heard,” they write in a manifesto.
“Chloé’s dismissal during the previous edition has created anger that is difficult to contain. Instead of protecting and helping her, her company, 9eArt+, has fired her for serious misconduct, after having denounced a festival collaborator for rape,” denounce the signatories, who claim a Me Too BD (Bande Desinée, comic, in French). “It is not a unique case, there are hundreds of stories covered in silence, omertá (…) There is a continuity in sexist and sexual violence in our profession.” Among the signatories, mostly women, including the victim herself, there are 20 winners of the first prize in previous editions.
After the authors’ plan, came that of the publishers. The national union of the sector, with more than 700 members, has recognized that, without the presence of the cartoonists, it is difficult for it to be carried out.
On Tuesday the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, announced in the Assembly a 60% cut (about 200,000 euros) in subsidies to the festival this year “due to the irregularities detected in terms of transparency”, although she was confident that it could be held. The event is sustained thanks to public financing. In addition to the State, the region of New Aquitaine and the municipality of Angoulême contribute, injecting half of the money necessary for it to be carried out.
On Monday, local and regional authorities published a statement announcing that they will open a new bidding process to entrust management to another company, although this decision was not enough for the boycott to be cancelled. Nor has the resignation of the director of the 9eArt+ company, Franck Bondoux, at the center of criticism for some time, who denies poor management, calmed matters.
The festival has suffered other crises. In 2017, several authors threatened to withdraw in protest at the absence of women on the list of finalists. However, its celebration has never been so threatened. “The horizon has never been so apocalyptic. The cancellation (of the edition) in 2026 could mean its definitive disappearance,” he told the newspaper. Liberation Fausto Fasulo, one of the artistic directors of the International Comics Federation, the association that owns the festival.