View source for Angoulême International Comics Festival

{{Short description|French comics convention}}
{{Infobox Convention
| name = Angoulême International Comics Festival
| native_name = Festival international de la bande dessinée d'Angoulême
| image = FIBD2017.jpg
| caption = Pictures from 44th Angoulême festival in 2017
| status = active
| frequency = annual
| date = late January
| genre = [[Comics]]
| venue = 
| location = [[Angoulême]]
| country = [[France]]
| first = 1974
| years_active = 1974–present
| last =
| founder_name = Francis Groux, Jean Mardikian, Claude Moliterni
| leader_name = Franck Bondoux<ref>Alverson, Brigid. [http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2016/01/nine-creators-withdraw-names-from-angouleme-grand-prix-list/ "10 creators withdraw names from Angouleme Grand Prix list,"]{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Robot 6: ''Comic Book Resources'' (January 6, 2016).</ref>
| organizer = 9eART+ Société Organisatrice du Festival
| filing =
| attendance = around 200,000 on average<ref>{{cite web|last=Bell|first=Anne-Laure|title=Angouleme International Comics Festival|url=http://www.ambafrance-uk.org/Culture-Angouleme-International|publisher=French embassy in the United Kingdom|access-date=30 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715212903/http://www.ambafrance-uk.org/Culture-Angouleme-International|archive-date=15 July 2011|url-status = dead}}</ref> and more than 220,000 in 2012<ref name=attendancefigaro>{{cite news|last=Delcroix|first=Olivier|title=Angoulême : la BD en pleine forme|url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/bd/2012/01/29/03014-20120129ARTFIG00159-angouleme-la-bd-en-pleine-forme.php|access-date=30 January 2012|newspaper=[[Le Figaro]]|date=2012-01-29|language=fr}}</ref> 
| website = [http://www.bdangouleme.com BD Angouleme.com]
}}

The '''Angoulême International Comics Festival''' ({{langx|fr|Festival international de la bande dessinée d'Angoulême}}) is the second largest [[comics]] festival in [[Europe]] after the [[Lucca Comics & Games]] in Italy, and the third biggest in the world after [[Lucca Comics & Games]] and the [[Comiket]] of Japan.<ref name=official1>{{cite web|title=Angoulême BD|url=http://bdangouleme.com/english/|access-date=30 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118045840/http://bdangouleme.com/english/|archive-date=18 January 2012|url-status = dead}}</ref><ref name=mausangoul>{{cite news|title=Honoured at Angoulême, Spiegelman tries to turn the page on 'Maus'|url=http://www.france24.com/en/20120127-honoured-angouleme-spiegelman-tries-turn-page-%E2%80%98maus%E2%80%99|access-date=30 January 2012|newspaper=France 24|date=2012-01-27}}</ref><ref name=blcoshtabw>{{cite web|last= Lancel|first=Xavier|title=Seven Hours Till Angoulême|date=25 January 2012 |url=http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/01/25/seven-hours-till-angoulme/|publisher=Scarce/Bleeding Cool|access-date=30 January 2012}}</ref> It has occurred every year since 1974 in [[Angoulême]], [[France]], on the last week end of January.

== History ==
The Angoulême International Comics Festival was founded by French writers and editors {{Interlanguage link|Francis Groux|fr}} and Jean Mardikian, and comics writer and scholar {{Interlanguage link|Claude Moliterni|fr}}.<ref name=ActuaBD>Pasamonik, Didier. [http://www.actuabd.com/Disparition-de-Claude-Moliterni-fondateur-du-Festival-d-Angouleme "Disparition de Claude Moliterni, fondateur du Festival d’Angoulême ,"]''ActuaBD'' (Jan. 21, 2009). {{in lang|fr}}</ref> Moliterni served as co-organizer of the festival through 2005.<ref name=ActuaBD />

==Attendance==
Over  200,000 visitors<ref name=mausangoul /> attend the fair every year, including between 6,000 and 7,000<ref>{{cite web|title=professionals|url=http://www.bdangoulemepro.com/page-professionnels,marche-des-droits-et-du-licensing,7.html|publisher=Festival International de la bande dessinée d'Angoulême|access-date=30 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170128194207/http://www.bdangoulemepro.com/page-professionnels,marche-des-droits-et-du-licensing,7.html|archive-date=28 January 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> professionals including approximately 2500 authors and 800 journalists.<ref name=official1 />

The attendance is generally difficult to estimate because the festival takes place all over  town, and is divided in many different areas that are not connected to each other directly.<ref name=scarcebcasoitc>{{cite web|last=Johnston|first=Rich|title=Standing Out In The Crowd|url=http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/01/29/scarce-at-angoulme-standing-out-crowd/|work=SCARCE At Angoulême|date=29 January 2012 |publisher=Bleeding Cool|access-date=30 January 2012}}</ref>

==Official prizes==
The four-day festival is notable for awarding several prestigious prizes in cartooning. The awards at Angoulême were originally called the '''Alfred''' awards, after the pet [[auk]] from ''[[Zig et Puce]]'' by [[Alain Saint-Ogan]]. In 1989, the name changed to the '''Alph-art''' awards, honoring the final, [[Tintin and Alph-Art|unfinished ''Tintin'' album]] by [[Hergé]]. In 2003, the Alph-art name was dropped, and they are now simply called "The Official Awards of the International Comics Festival" (''le Palmarès Officiel du Festival international de la bande dessinée''). In 2007, [[Lewis Trondheim]] (2006 Grand Prix winner) created a mascot for the festival, ''Le Fauve'' (The Wildcat), and since 2008 the prize winners have received wildcat statuettes, with the Best Album statuette [[gilding|coated in gold]]. Since this year, the award is called the ''fauve'' and the best album, the ''fauve d'or''. The prizes were reorganized too, to create a pool of 40-60 albums, called "official selections", from which are awarded the "Best Album" prize, five "Angoulême Essentials", one "Revelation Essential" (given to rookie creators), and one Essential chosen by the public. The Heritage Essential (for reprinted material) and Youth Essential are selected from separate nominee pools.

Additionally, the ''[[Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême]]'' is awarded each year to a living creator honoring their lifetime achievement, and the Grand Prix winner becomes president of the next year's festival. Traditionally, the president heads the prize jury of the next year's festival, illustrates the festival poster, and is given an exhibition of his or her work. Four women have been awarded the prize: French author [[Florence Cestac]], Japanese mangaka [[Rumiko Takahashi]], Canadian [[Julie Doucet]], and British cartoonist [[Posy Simmonds]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Julie Doucet, lauréate du Grand Prix du FIBD 2022 |url=https://actualitte.com/article/105204/prix-litteraires/julie-doucet-laureate-du-grand-prix-du-fibd-2022 |access-date=2022-03-21 |website=ActuaLitté.com |language=fr-FR}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=French comics festival marred by sexism row - BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35240858|access-date=6 January 2016|work=BBC News|date=6 January 2016|language=en-GB}}</ref>

[[File:Kim_Jung_Gi_Yann_Blake.jpg|thumb|Artist Kim Jung Gi in [[interview]] with Yann Blake in [[Angoulême]] during the festival (January 2019)]]

==Other prizes==
* Prize for School Comic
* Prize for Young Talent (Prix Jeunes Talents)
* Prize for Young Talent from the Aquitaine Region
* "Strip" Prize
* Prize of the Students of Poitou-Charentes (secondary school)
* Prize of the Students of Angoulême (primary school)
* Prize for Alternative Comics (fanzines)
* Hippocampus Prize (for creators with disabilities) 
* Other prizes have been created on the margins of the festival, known as the Off Of Off.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Angoulême 2020 : Le Off of Off, le piment irrévérencieux du (...) |url=https://www.actuabd.com/Angouleme-2020-Le-Off-of-Off-le-piment-irreverencieux-du-festival |access-date=2022-03-21 |website=ActuaBD |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Angoulême 2022 : en marge du Festival, le OFF of OFF |url=https://www.actuabd.com/Angouleme-2022-en-marge-du-Festival-le-OFF-of-OFF |access-date=2022-03-21 |website=ActuaBD |language=fr}}</ref> These  awards are the Prix Tournesol, the [[Charlie Schlingo|Shlingo]] Award and the [[:fr:Prix Couilles au cul|Prix Couilles-au-cul]], literally translated as the "Balls to the buttocks" award, deriving from the French slang expression for bravery, and who celebrates and encourages artistic freedom in artists whose activism is repressed in their home countries.

==Prize categories==
{{see also|Former prizes of the Angoulême International Comics Festival}}
* [[Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême|Grand Prize]]
* [[Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Best Album|Prize for Best Album/Golden Wildcat]]
* [[Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize Awarded by the Audience|Special Prize of the Jury]]
* [[Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Artwork|Prize for Artwork]]
* [[Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for First Comic Book|Prize for First Comic Book]]
* [[Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for a Series|Prize for a Series]]
* [[Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Inheritance|Prize for Inheritance]]
* [[Angoulême International Comics Festival Prix Jeunesse 9-12 ans|Prix Jeunesse 9-12 ans]] (Youth prize, 9–12 years)
* [[Angoulême International Comics Festival Prix Jeunesse 7-8 ans|Prix Jeunesse 7-8 ans]] (Youth prize, 7–8 years)
* [[Angoulême International Comics Festival Fanzine Prize|Fanzine Prize]]
* Revelation Prize
* [[Angoulême International Comics Festival Best promotional comic|Best promotional comic]]
* [[Angoulême International Comics Festival René Goscinny award|René Goscinny award]]

==See also==
* [[European comics]]

==References==
<references />

==External links==
{{Commons}}
* {{official website|http://www.bdangouleme.com}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060913061408/http://www.toutenbd.com/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=19 Awards] {{in lang|fr}}
* {{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7246634.stm|title=France takes its comics very seriously|work=BBC News| date=2008-02-16 | access-date=2010-01-01}}
* [https://www.actuabd.com/ ActuaBD] (in French)

{{Angoulême International Comics Festival}}
{{Comic festivals and alternative comics conventions|state=collapsed}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Angouleme International Comics Festival}}
[[Category:Angoulême International Comics Festival| ]]
[[Category:Comics conventions]]
[[Category:Cultural festivals in France]]
[[Category:Multigenre conventions]]
[[Category:Festivals established in 1974]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Charente]]
[[Category:Festivals in France]]
[[Category:1974 establishments in France]]
[[Category:Angoulême]]