Precariousness of comic book authors: the Angoulême festival threatened with boycott in June

“No Angoulême without controversy”… The saying makes all festival-goers smile or sigh every year. It still seems to be verified at a time when the international high mass of comics is preparing, in a form constrained by the health crisis of Covid-19, to hand out its prices. If the ceremony of January 29 does not appear threatened, a call for a boycott for the second part of the demonstration, scheduled for June 24-27, has just been launched by the authors, still fighting against the precariousness of the profession.

Festival side, we prefer to focus for the moment on the organization, necessarily a little complicated, the evening of the Golden Fauves, the annual awards of the 9th art. It will take place as usual in the large hall of the Angoulême theater, but without an audience, except for around fifty professionals. To remedy this situation, the ceremony, hosted by comedian Thomas VDB, will be filmed and broadcast live on the antennas and the France Inter website.

The winners will be part of the list of 75 albums selected and announced in November: eight albums in the 8-12 year old youth selection, eight others in the 12-17 year old youth selection, seven in the thriller selection, seven in the heritage selection and 45 in the official selection. It is from this last list that the Fauves will be chosen – prize for the best album, jury prize, revelation prize, public prize – as well as the high school student prize, a novelty for this edition.

“The pandemic is no excuse”

But the little party that is being prepared is already starting to take a bitter taste. The cartoonists, who had notably displayed their anger last year with a demonstration in the streets of Angoulême, take advantage of this news to step up to the niche. Still at stake: the status of authors, 50% of whom now live below the poverty line, and their remuneration, especially during festivals. The Racine report, commissioned by the state in 2020, delivered alarming conclusions on the precariousness of the profession and the need to initiate reforms, which are slow to arrive.

Faced with this observation, a forum of the collective Authors in action, published at the beginning of the week, launches a clear call: “We, the signatory authors and authors will apply the total boycott of the public side of the Angoulême Festival, next June, if no real and concrete act is taken by then , with regard to our professional status, our representation and a fair rebalancing of the book chain, of which the State and your government cannot remain mere observers ”. In a few days, it has already gathered more than 500 signatures and should still gain momentum.

Voices were heard more individually, like those of Gwen de Bonneval and Fabien Vehlmann, author in particular of the series “Alone”, in competition this year for a Fauve with “The last Atlas”. “Last year, we went on stage to say We will no longer go to Angoulême. They were not empty words. We won’t go to the ceremony, or the festival in June, if nothing happens. We took advantage of the Covid to bury the promises we had made (Emmanuel) Macron last year by coming to Angoulême. The pandemic is no excuse. On the contrary: we could have taken advantage of this time to sit down and discuss, said the latter. The anger is there. We can no longer continue to play the festival game, even if we are well aware that he is not responsible for the situation. But it is a showcase and a way for us to be able to be listened to ”.