With summer only half-way, it might be the right time to start thinking of how to spend the second half of the year. What better way to do that than by checking what the festival calendar has to offer for the next few months ? A few highlights :
On the 28th, 29th and 30th of August 2009, the international festival of the comic strip of Solliès-ville (France-Provence) welcomes, on the square of the medieval village, 45 French and foreign authors. The festival is directed by its guest of honour, Emmanuel Lepage, and will be visited by American cartoonists Charles Burns, Art Spiegelman and Chris Ware, and by European giants Enki Bilal, Charles Berbérian, Lewis Trondheim, Jacques de Loustal and many others. Interestingly, also present will be Marcel Marlier, the painter of the Martine books, who recently was mentioned as one of the favorite artists of the late Michael Jackson.
The fifth edition of BD-Fil, in Lausanne, Switzerland, will take place from the 11th until 13th September. Main guest Frederik Peeters created the quite menacing poster, featuring a blue-eyed alien, and will also be the subject of a major exhibition, Histories Naturelles (or Natural Histories). Other quite interesting events include Fireboxes, an exhibition of comic and cartoon art on as small a surface as a matchbox, and an exhibition on pop-up books and comics. Spirou magazine has assembled no less than 70 original plates featuring its title character. A full list of all participating authors will be available from early August onwards, as well as more info on the festival, here.
(poster art for this year’s BD-Fil festival in Lausanne by Frederik Peeters)
The second Recontres Chaland, on October 3rd and 4th, in Nérac, France, has invited another of the great creators of the second wave of Ligne Claire comics: Ted Benoit. There will be an exhibition of original art from all his major works (Hôpital, Vers la Ligne Claire, Histoires vraies, Bingo Bongo, Ray Banana), and of course from his collaboration to the renewed Blake and Mortimer series, and Benoit will also be present at the traditional panel discussions on the state of the Clear Line. Chaland himself will be the subject of a second exhibition of thirty “incunables.” The poster of the festival features Benoits main hero, Ray Bananas, looking quite deep in thought in full film director gear. For more information check out the official site.
Mon, Jul 27, 2009
Comics and cartoons, Conventions and events, From our Continental Correspondent, General