APS : Wednesday, 03 October 2018
ALGIERS- International Comic Book Festival (FIBDA) opened Tuesday at the esplanade of Riadh el Feth, Algiers, with the participation of 17 countries and Canada as the guest of honor.
Encounters with Algerian and foreign cartoonists are planned as part of the 11th International Comic Book Festival, including American Alitha Martinez, Spanish Antonio Altarriba Ordonez and Algerian Nawel Lourad.
Many comic book exhibitions are scheduled during the event, one of which is devoted to Canadian comic books, representing the Quebec region, with the participation of eight comic book artists, including Julie Rocheleau, Jean-Paul Eid and Marie Debeau.
Manga and comics trip training workshops are also planned for kids with a costume contest, “Cosplay,” in collaboration with the National Office of Copyright and Related Rights and the manga-specialized publishing house “Z-Link.”
The minister of Culture, Azzedine Mihoubi, attended the festival’s opening ceremony along with a number of Government members and visited the stands of some participating countries, like Canada, Belgium and Italy, in addition to a number of Algerian publishing houses, including Dalimen and Z-Link.
Mihoubi said the festival has become an “important successful annual event,” adding that Canada has been chosen as a guest of honor “for its long history in comic strips.”
“Algerian young people will benefit a lot from Canada’s experience in the field.”
The opening ceremony of the festival, to run until October 6, was attended by a large audience, compared with 2017’s edition.
The 2018, held under the slogan of “living together,” has brought together participants from Canada, Belgium, Spain, the United States, Tunisia and, for the first time, Sweden and Colombia.
