The BDmania.ch festival welcomed some 9,600 visitors on Saturday and Sunday in Belfaux (FR) for its 30th anniversary, celebrated on the occasion of its 16th edition. The organizers had “nice surprises” in store for a wide audience.
Dedications, workshops, exhibitions, conferences, competitions… the festival offered children and adults moments of discovery, sharing and emotion, the organizers said on Sunday, declaring themselves very satisfied with the attendance.
In total, more than 60 designers and illustrators, from the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland, but also from Belgium and France, shared their passion with the public in the gymnastics hall, “a mecca for signings” . The event took place “in this festive spirit which is dear to the organizers”.
As a reminder, the festival was founded in 1992, but Covid-19 made it necessary to postpone the 30th anniversary commemoration. Several exhibitions of anthropomorphic comics have highlighted heroes such as Petzi and local detective Okla Noodles, as well as authors like Carine, Yami Shin and Christian Peultier.
An exhibition was also dedicated to the author of the edition’s poster, the artist Etienne Willem, who died on June 16. Several cartoonists were also present with comics straight off the press. Some authors have revealed their creative work at conferences.
For sports fans, a special stand presented the new comic strip “Fribourg, land of hockey”. The festival also welcomed collectives such as Splotch and La Bûche, as well as publishing houses, second-hand booksellers and associations such as Boule à Zéro and Alpart.
The fact of organizing the festival on two locations, the school site and the parish center, was a novelty for the 2024 edition. In 2021, BDmania.ch welcomed nearly 6,000 visitors over two days. The demonstration took place at more than 30 sites in the canton, with Derib as the distinguished guest.
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