Family

Sevrier BD

Lake Annecy's Comic Book Festival

Apr 2022

4 min.

May 6-8, 2022

What would you say to hanging out for the weekend along the shores of Lake Annecy, in the charming village of Sevrier, for the 10th edition of the area’s annual Comic Book Festival, “Salon de la BD” in french. For a behind-the-scenes preview, we met up with Vincent Poirier, involved with the festival since the very beginning and co-manager of the BD Fugue comic book store in Centre Bonlieu.

After canceling the 2020 edition, and hosting an online version of the festival in 2021, the area’s one and only big event for comic book enthusiasts returns to its regularly scheduled programming for 2022, with Sevrier BD at the helm as usual. The 1000m² expo center dedicated to comics includes a permanent exhibit, entertainment and activities, opportunities to meet with the authors, and the opportunity to pick up an issue or two on shelves filled with the works and latest releases by the event’s guest authors.

The festival’s two guests of honor are well known comic artists Matthieu Bonhomme and Corentin Rouge, each who designed a poster for the event. Alongside these two stars, thirty other authors said yes when they received their invitation.

Discovery, wonder, and expanding the realm of possibility

“When we created the festival ten years ago, we wanted to make comic books more accessible to the general public. The event was not designed with die-hard enthusiasts in mind, but for those unfamiliar (or even uncomfortable) with the comic book world. The goal is to introduce newcomers to the incredibly wide range of possibilities that the artists and authors offer and hopefully motivate them to take the next step. This is a family-oriented event, with comic books for everyone, from toddlers to retirees and all ages in between.”

An alternative take on comic books

Humor, action, adventure, chills, suspense, science fiction, historic tales, politics, manga… Comic books cover every topic imaginable and target all ages. This very down-to-earth festival showcases the depth and richness of the unique graphic approach and narrative style comics have to offer, longtime erroneously considered only for kids and still little-known by the general public. Attend the festival as a family, wander around up and down the aisles, flip through the many comic books available, meet with the authors, and to simply discover what comic books are all about.

“While comic books have definitely grown in popularity over the past few years, they are rarely considered a legitimate art and storytelling form by the general public and continue to suffer from a mistaken reputation. Comic books (often referred to as graphic novels in English) still garner an elitist image, or the complete opposite, are reduced to the blockbusters of the golden age, like Asterix, Tintin, Blake & Mortimer, or Gaston Lagaffe, and still considered by many as the poor step-sibling to “real” literature. Today, generalist book stores carry comic books that cover every topic imaginable, from cooking recipes to personal development, by way of major societal issues or world history,” Vincent Poirier explains.

Included among the three dozen authors who plan to attend the event are iconic graphic artists and writers from different backgrounds and who have scheduled times for festival-goers to meet them and ask for an autograph.

For the first time ever this year, the festivities will begin on Friday, with meetings for free and open to everyone at Annecy’s Pathé Cinema movie theater – you must sign up beforehand on the sevrierbd.com website – and will continue on Saturday and Sunday May 7-8, in Sévrier.

As of today, Centre Bonlieu currently has an expo showcasing the event’s guest authors, and the hospital in Annecy also has two expos on display: Régis Lejonc pays homage to the area’s summits, including Tournette Peak (in his work “Le Berger et l’Assassin” – The Shepherd and the Assasin), and the comic book program at the ENAAI School of Art in Chambéry has students creating new works based on Lucky Luke.

Program

Friday, May 6 – Pathé Cinema in Annecy:

Round table discussions (Free, open to everyone, prior registration through the website is required)
Comic book report, the business of the real, from 10:30 to 12:00, with Sébastien GNAEDIG (publisher and author), Jean-David MORVAND (writer), and Cyrille POMÈS (author).
Japan, the content gift that keeps on giving? From 14:00-15:30 with Jean-Christophe DEVENEY (writer), Michaël SANLAVILLE (author), and Yaël BEN NUN (curator of the animated film collection for the museums in Annecy).
Talking about oneself, talking about others, life through comic books, from 16:00-17:30 with Matthieu BONHOMME (author), Théo GROSJEAN (author), and Mademoiselle Caroline (author).
Animated film screening, Le Sommet des Dieux (The Summit of the Gods), at 21:00
Awarded a César for the best animated film, based on the manga by Jiro Taniguchi

Saturday, May 7, and Sunday, May 8 – Complexe d’Animation de Sevrier

The festival will take place at the animation conference hall in Sevrier on Saturday, from 10:00 to 19:00, and on Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00. The program includes:

Autograph sessions
Kids’ area with board games, makeup, storytelling…
Combed wool felt workshops for kids
Led by Marie-Noëlle Horvath, whose fabric-illustrated children’s books are truly extraordinary artistic creations.
Combed-wool felt (for ages 10 and up) and making bears with thin felt (starting at 3 years old).
(Free, sign up on location, workshop lasts for 1.5 hours)
Silkscreen workshop with the Art By Friends collective
For all ages, free, both afternoons.
Sculpture demonstrations
Live wood sculpting by Mauro Gandini (awarded a Golden Mickey for best Disney artist)
Rebels and outlaw exhibit
A collection of silkscreen posters by La Poule Rouge Editions
Expo by guests of honor Matthieu Bonhomme and Corentin Rouge
Over thirty illustrations, some rare and some new, selected by the artists themselves.
Green exhibit
Monumental works by several elementary schools in Haute-Savoie based on the Green comic book by Magali Le Huche and written by Marie Desplechin.
And last but not least, a screening of the animated film Bad guys at the Laudon movie theater in Saint Jorioz at 20:30 on Saturday Night. €4 tickets when you present your Comic Book festival entry pass.