For six days, the Center for Modern Art in Tetouan will welcome artists, publishers, academics and enthusiasts around the world in a village entirely dedicated to comics. Through a rich and plural programming, FIBAD intends to honor an art long considered marginal, today recognized for its role in social representation, narrative innovation and cultural criticism. Exhibitions, workshops, professional meetings, drawn concerts, manga shows, youth entertainment, projections and master classes will punctuate a program that is both festive and reflexive.
One of the highlights of the forum will be the large retrospective exhibition “25 years of Moroccan comics”, which will highlight the evolution of an artistic scene from the margin to institutional recognition. This visual and historical journey will rediscover the works of emblematic figures such as Mohammed Amine El Bellaoui (alias Rebel Spirit), Zainab Fasiki, Omar Ennaciri, Brahim Rais, Mehdi Annassi, Malika Dahil, and many others, illustrating the diversity of styles and commitments that characterize contemporary Moroccan comic.
The FIBAD will pay tribute to several personalities who contributed to the influence of 9ᵉ art in Morocco. Will be honored in particular Oum El Banine Slaoui and Maaté Daoudi, the first doctors in visual arts in Morocco and former teachers at the Inba, as well as Youssef Daoudi, author of international renown member of the Moroccan diaspora, and Mina Koraichi, young author distinguished by the prestigious Raymond 2024 prize for young creation.
True to its vocation as a springboard for the next generation, the Fibad will devote a central place to young creation. Two competitions will be organized: one, national, intended for young Moroccan authors, and the other, on a continental scale, reserved for African comics.
The presence of authors and publishers from Togo, Senegal, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo will strengthen the Pan-African dimension of this edition, by promoting South-South exchanges and transnational artistic cooperation.
-The history of FIBAD is also that of structuring partnerships. The 2025 edition will highlight historic cooperation with international institutions such as the Wallonia-Brussels general delegation, the French Institute of Morocco and the Institut Cervantès. These supports allowed the forum to widen its audience and have a long -term anchor Moroccan comics in international culture networks.
The North-South professional meetings planned as part of the forum will bring together renowned publishing houses-“Glénat”, “rue de Sèvres”, “En 3000 Éditions”, as well as the “Hiba Foundation”-around crucial themes such as co-edition, translation and digital dissemination.
The cinema will also invite itself to the Fibad with the screening of the documentary Bubbles, directed by Hassan Maanany. This film retraces the genesis of the festival and the evolution of comics in Morocco, through the testimonies of its pioneers, putting in perspective the struggles, hopes and achievements of a sector in full structuring.
The closing day, entitled “Mangas – The After Fibad”, will be dedicated to manga culture, with a rich program: projections, cosplay, workshops, master classes and round tables will bring together Moroccan, African and Japanese specialists in an intercontinental opening spirit.
The edition will end with a strong artistic note with a designed concert, the fruit of the European Project Comics Beyond, bringing together the Italian singer Marta del Grandi and the illustrator Cecilia Valagussa in an immersive performance combining music and live visual creation.
