The company organizing the Angoulême Comic Book Festival announced on Monday the cancellation of the 53rd edition of the competition, which was scheduled to open on January 29, after a boycott by participating authors and publishers. The decision comes after weeks of controversy surrounding the company 9Art+, which announced that the festival “will not be able to be held under the appropriate circumstances.”
More than 2,000 authors announced weeks ago that they would not participate in this session in protest against the mismanagement of the event organizers. They accuse 9Art+ of financial opacity and unfair dismissal of an employee who reported last year that she had been raped by one of the festival’s collaborators. Publishers joined the boycott of authors, and a week ago the government and local authorities announced that they would withdraw public support for the competition, which is 47% funded thanks to these revenues.
This is the first time that this festival, the most important comic book festival in Europe and the oldest in the world, has been suspended since it began in 1974, with the exception of the year of the pandemic. The decision seemed inevitable for weeks, and the mayor of Angoulême himself, Xavier Bonfont, admitted that the matter was “more than complicated” for him.
9Art+ has managed the competition since 2008 and its contract has been renewed for the next two editions. In a statement published by local media Free CharenteThe company holds the responsibility for the cancellation to the public bodies charged with financing it, “which have not stopped engaging in the private management of the event.”
The competition has suffered other crises, but none were serious enough to lead to its cancellation. Next year’s edition is also under threat, since its organization depends on the same company. The controversy could also end in litigation, as they state in a 9Art+ statement, signed by the company’s lawyers, that the management of the 2027 edition “legally returns to it”, according to a contract, until “a solution is negotiated that allows laying the foundations for the transition to a new management of the festival.” The mayor of Angoulême, Xavier Bonfont, said last week that, “taking into account the situation,” it would be difficult to hold the edition in 2027 with the same people in charge.
“Regardless of any legal framework, public bodies exercised their influence to prevent the renewal of the private contract entrusting the company with organizing the festival,” denounced lawyers Vincent Prenot and Ghislain Ménière. Last Tuesday, Minister of Culture Rachida Dati announced a 60% reduction (about 200,000 euros) in the state’s support for the festival “due to the violations discovered in the level of transparency.” In addition, the competition receives financial support from the Region of New Aquitaine and the Municipality of Angoulême.
Although the company blames the authorities for causing this situation by withdrawing its funds, the authors participating in the festival have been denouncing for some time the lack of transparency on the part of the aforementioned company. Its culmination last year was the dismissal of an employee who had filed a rape complaint. In a column published more than a week ago in the newspaper lomanity, 285 designers denounced the “deteriorating working conditions” in the competition and criticized, after the expulsion of the aforementioned worker, that their case “is not a unique case (…). The text referred to the continuity of sexual and gender-based violence in the profession.”
After a boycott by authors and publishers, 9Art+ director Frank Bondoux resigned, although he has always denied accusations of mismanagement. His departure did not prevent the competition from being cancelled. This decision is a blow to the municipality of Angoulême, located in southern France, which is famous for its prestigious animation festival, which attracts 200,000 fans every year.