Angoulême Festival: the Fauve d'or for the comic strip "Révolution" by Grouazel and Locard

The Fauve d'or of the 2019 edition of the Angoulême festival was awarded, Saturday, February 1, to Florent Grouazel, 33, and Younn Locard, 36, for the first volume of "Revolution". Published by Actes Sud / L'An 2, this ambitious and remarkably documented album (336 pages, 26 euros), released in January 2019, is the first part of a trilogy devoted to the Revolution.

(Live Tweet) Ceremony of the Fauves - The Fauve d'or for the best album is awarded to Florent Grouazel and Younn Locard for "Revolution - Tome 1 Liberté" by Actes Sud / L'An 2 # FIBD2020 # BD2020 #BD #Angouleme # FIBD @ActesSud pic.twitter.com/NiJSS37IVX

The two authors wrote and designed the album, alternating their role every 15 or 20 pages. This first part (called "Liberty") retraces the events that occurred between the months of May and October 1789 when the capital is plunged into the tumult of the Estates General and that opinion is still united around the person of the King.

These are two styles that coexist harmoniously in this album. The two authors went through the Saint-Luc Institute in Brussels, a veritable breeding ground for talents in the field of comics.

Staging Marat, Lafayette and Robespierre, "Révolution" tells the fascinating story of the French Revolution alongside the people.

We follow a street girl, a pamphleteer journalist and agitator, two twin aristocrats from their native Brittany, a fishmonger from Les Halles, an English philosopher ... How are new ways of living and struggling invented? What use should you make of yourself in such an era? Each of the characters tries, day after day, in the general irresolution, to bring his personal answer to these questions.

Obviously, we cannot help drawing a parallel with the Yellow Vests movement - which had not started when the two authors started their fresco. Asked about this coincidence, the two designers explain that "it is disturbing to see how similar these movements are ... People are trying to make their claims heard and no one has seen them coming". "We hope that this book resonates particularly today," said Younn Locard while receiving the Fauve d'or alongside Florent Graouzel.

Precariousness of the profession

For its 2019 edition, the Angoulême Festival has become a sounding board for the current economic and social climate in France. The 47th edition of the comic book festival, which ends on Sunday, was notably marked by the revolt of comic book authors who denounced the "precariousness" of their profession while 2020 was proclaimed "year of the comic strip".

The designers and scriptwriters consider themselves to be "the victims of the economic miracle of publishing". The French comic book market broke a new record in 2019, thanks to an 11% jump in sales but "more than 50% of professional authors are below the minimum wage, more than 30% below the threshold of poverty ", noted this week the collective" Authors and authors in action ".

This edition was also marked by the controversy arising from the publication of a photo of Emmanuel Macron alongside the designer Jul. In this image, the head of state visiting the festival is holding a t-shirt on which a Fauve (the award attributed to Angoulême) is depicted wearing a hat. Under the drawing is written: "LBD 2020", a reference to defense ball launchers and the acronym chosen for the year of the comic strip (BD 2020).

Well ... pic.twitter.com/AoIMo22s86

The image ignited the canvas and caused the opposition from left and right to react. Two of the main police unions protested to AFP. "It's scandalous," reacted Yves Lefebvre, secretary general of the Unite-SGP-FO. Fabien Vanhemelryck, secretary general of Alliance, called the episode "the worst signal in the current context of chaos".

Questioned a little later by the press, Emmanuel Macron said that he "rejected the term of police violence", ensuring that "violence is first in society". "Nevertheless from where I am I must defend creativity, freedom of expression, including insolence and including the creation of artists who say things (...) with which I do not agree" , he added.

With AFP

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