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Original Angoulême Festival owner Association FIBD and its controversial operator 9e Art+ have failed in their legal bid to prevent the new incarnation of the festival from happening. The judge has rejected both organisations claims of unfair competition and reputational parasitism, leaving the path open for the new festival – overseen by the Association for the Development of Comics in Angoulême (ADBDA) and its chosen operator, the Morgane group – to establish a new international comics festival to replace it. The first edition of the new festival is still slated to take place late January 2027.
According to local newspaper Charente Libre, the Angoulême court rejected all claims made by Association FIBD and 9e Art+, including the demands to pay damages of €300,000 to recover the costs incurred by the implosion of this year’s event in November 2025. Announced by Franck Bondoux, owner of 9e Art+, in January – both his company and Association FIBD sought to also annul the ADBDA’s open call process to find a new festival operator, which yielded the Morgane Group. That has likewise failed.
The question now is what will happen next – 9e Art+ has already entered bankruptcy but the Association FIBD (comprised of a mix of the original festival founders’ heirs and volunteers) has been left adrift, having officially lost its monopoly on holding comics events in the town, and only the copyrights – including the name Festival international de la bande dessinée d’Angoulême [tr. Angoulême International Comics Festival], aka Angoulême FIBD, left in its possession. Although yet to be formally announced, the new festival will not use that name and will instead establish a new one with its own copyrights to draw a clean break with the regime that completely broke faith with the entire French comics industry and its public funders in 2025.
As for the “New Festival”, preparations have been underway throughout 2026 to make the traditional slot of late January 2027. Since bodies representing authors and publishers are members of the ADBDA it is our understanding that table and hotel bookings were made months ago, with exhibitions already being prepped. While the festival will not be of exactly the same scale as its prior incarnation in the first year – having had under a year to put it together – subsequent years will build outwards. Now that the legal battle is over, expect word from the ADBDA and press conferences in the coming days and weeks.
