Will There Be a 2027 Angoulême Comic Strip Festival? (UPDATED)
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Yesterday’s news about the Angoulême International Comics Festival selecting a new organizer left one question unanswered: will there be a festival next January? The contract for 2027 is held by the former organizer, 9eArt+, who is currently in litigation over their contract. Another hurdle is the mere logistics of organizing the biggest comic festival in the world. However, Céline Bagot, one of the main project leads with the new organizer Morgane group, has indicated that they are already working on the 2027 festival.
From an interview with French television BFM we learn a few details. Here are Céline’s responses to the pertinent questions of whether there will be a festival next year:
It is indeed very short (laughs) . We are planning a return in January 2027. The advantage is that by presenting our application, with an already substantial artistic and cultural component, we had already made contact with a number of authors and publishing houses regarding a 2027 program. So we are already in the process of putting it in place.
And if so, how…?
Obviously, in 2027, we won’t be able to offer as many exhibitions as before, but we’re already working with the Cité de la bande dessinée (Comics Museum), which has a program already in place. This will allow us to establish a balance over the next three years, by collaborating with publishers and authors who represent what we envision for the ninth art.
9eArt+, Association FIBD Include Morgane Group to Lawsuit
Update 9:30pm EST: 9eArt+ and Association FIBD include Morgane group to their lawsuit against Association for the Development of Comics in Angoulême (ADBDA), and threaten that the 2027 event cannot be held if they’re victorious in court.
Their announcement on their Facebook post says:
The ADBDA has announced the results of its call for projects—an initiative representing an attempt to illicitly replicate the International Comics Festival (FIBD). This announcement was made with a complete lack of transparency, standing in flagrant contradiction to the criticisms the organization itself voiced just a few months ago.
Due to a lack of dialogue on the part of local authorities and State representatives—despite the matter having been referred to the Angoulême Judicial Court—the FIBD Association and the company 9eArt+ are compelled to issue a legal summons against the winner designated by the ADBDA: the Morgane Group. The grounds for this action are commercial parasitism and unfair competition.
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This situation jeopardizes the holding of the FIBD in 2027. A court ruling in favor of the historic association and its partner would result in the cancellation of the call for projects, thereby rendering it logistically impossible to organize the Festival for the second consecutive year. Such an outcome would carry severe economic, social, and cultural consequences for the Charente region and, more broadly, for the entire comics sector.
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