The first edition of the Seattle Franco-Belgian Comics Festival organized by Made in France from 2nd to 5th December 2020 proved a success!
Sponsored by the Canadian Consulate in Seattle, the Flam Federation in the USA, the Association 4 Culture and the Quebec Delegation in Los Angeles, the festival, which was initially planned to take place in an art gallery, had to be organized online. But Sylvie Joseph-Julien, founder and director of the Association Made in France was delighted with this constraint which allowed for connections from all over the world!
22 speakers and workshop leaders, 43 partners from around the world, 2350 visits to the Made in France website from 32 different countries, this first edition’s guest of honor was Jean Bastide no less. He is known for having taken over the characters of Boule and Bill from 2016, following Laurent Verron who made 12 albums (1999-2015) after the death of Jean Roba. He also worked on volumes 1, 2 and 3 of La Guerre des Sambre and the first volume of the adaptation of Notre Dame de Paris, co-directed with Robin Recht.
This festival featured: workshops, meetings with drawers and scriptwriters, exhibitions, contests, and many surprises around comics. There was something for all ages!
Students (1st Grade and Second Grade) at the French Immersion School of Washington (FISW) in Bellevue participated in the animated workshop by Lucile Fouquet and designer Aurélie Volsy around the comic book: 3 2 1 0 déchet. This comic book, published by Editions Perspectives Art9, offers to follow the adventures of a family, who accepts a challenge: trying to succeed in living without waste!
Ici Seattle attended the conversation with Karine Parquet, journalist, and comic book writer, who introduced us documentary graphic novel genre. She is from Nantes, and she is both specialized in historical subjects and a fan of comics, she combined her two passions in 2017 with the writing of the scenario and documentaries of the album “Nantes” (3 volumes). The workshop was introduced by Susan Kegel, President of the Sister City Nantes/Seattle association (Nantes has been Seattle’s twin city for 40 years).
See you next year! From November 3rd to 6th, 2021, online and in Seattle, for a new edition of this festival, we cannot wait!
Ici Seattle
Translated by Clémence
