The Festival de Bande Dessinée has opened and will award a Charlie Freedom of Speech prize among other honours
The celebrated Angoulême comic book festival opened on Thursday to laughter and tears three weeks after some of France’s best known cartoonists were gunned down in a terrorist attack.
Amid tight security, the 42nd Festival de Bande Dessinée opened to tributes to the Charlie Hebdo staff killed when Chérif and Saïd Kouachi stormed the satirical magazine’s Paris offices on 7 January.
Franck Bondoux, one of the festival organisers, said: “Even if it is overshadowed by the Charlie drama, Angoulême must remain a celebration of comic books.” A series of tributes to Charlie Hebdo and its murdered cartoonists has been planned for the festival that will run for four days.
These include a “Charlie Freedom of Speech award” and a special Grand Prix award to be given to the murdered stars of the Charlie Hebdo editorial team, as well as a hastily arranged Je Suis Charlie exhibition, which French president François Hollande is expected to open. A memorial cartoon book made up of 170 cartoons chosen from 800 submitted will be published.
Work by Calvin and Hobbes cartoonist, American Bill Watterson, and his compatriot Jack Kirby, co-creator of Captain America, Hulk and X-Men, also features in the festival exhibition.
Catherine Meurisse, a cartoonist for the satirical magazine, who escaped the slaughter because she arrived late for the weekly editorial meeting, also has work entered in the festival Grand Prix competition.
Dozens of extra police and gendarmes have been drafted into Angoulême for the festival period.
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