Embattled Angoulême International Comics Festival owner Association FIBD and controversial operator 9e Art+ made dramatic concessions on Thursday, including the immediate “retirement” of reviled operator boss Franck Bondoux. An emergency meeting between authors, publishers, financial partners and mayor Xavier Bonnefont took place. Their answer: not good enough.
Franck Bondoux has become an increasingly reviled figure in French comics. As the Angoulême Festival’s self-appointed General Delegate since 2004, he leads his company 9e Art+ (formed 2008) in putting each annual edition together on behalf of Association FIBD. He also arranges private sponsorships for the festival with his other company, Partnership Consulting. Over the past twenty years the festival has faced a litany of scandals which often link back to Bondoux – including politically contentious sponsors, misogyny, toxic work culture, and financial irregularities. A damning report by Humanité in January 2025 also revealed an employee allegedly fired by Bondoux after reporting their own sexual assault at the festival’s 2024 event. Both the alleged assault and the unfair dismissal cases are making their way through the French courts.
The present major conflagration was sparked on Saturday, November 8 when a 4-month process of seeking alternative showrunners for the Angouleme Festival returned an outcome widely considered pre-decided and illegitimate, retaining 9e Art+ as organiser in a joint arrangement with publicly owned body Cité de la BD. The French comics industry immediately erupted with a rapidly growing list of authors and publishers declaring their boycott of the 2026 edition of the festival. With the very real risk of the festival being cancelled – and the immense economic impact locally, the mayor (up for reelecton in March) stepped in on Monday, November 10.
Thursday morning saw a flurry of press releases from the Association FIBD and 9e Art+. They stated the immediate annulment of the contested result and a roadmap for a new, more transparent and inclusive process, with 9e Art+ this time barred from participating. 9e Art+ would be allowed to complete its present contract, set to end in 2027.
The Association FIBD press release said (via DeepL):
“The Association, owner of the Festival, had selected two complementary organisations (9e Art+ and publicly-owned Cité de la BD) to operate the Festival starting in 2028. This choice clearly did not meet with the approval of the Festival’s stakeholders. Faced with the resulting protests, and in an effort to resolve the situation, the Association affirms the sincerity and responsibility of its choice.”
It added:
“Mindful of the expectations of those involved in the event and keen to preserve the integrity and reputation of the International Comics Festival, the Association, attentive to the requests and concerns that have been expressed, has decided to invalidate the results of the call for tenders (and) set up a steering committee to launch a new selection process.”
It then described a process that would take place between December 2025 and June 2026, and involve a representative committee of authors, publishers, public funders, Association FIBD members, and the president of the organisation representing creative sectors in Angoulême (ADBDA).
9e Art+’s press release meanwhile accepted the Association’s declaration, stated that Franck Bondoux had stepped down as festival General Delegate and director of 9e Art+ “with immediate effect”, and gave the team of employees taking up the responsibility for the remainder of the contract. The team would be 9e Art+ artistic directors Clémentine Hustin and Fausto Fasulo, commercial director Noémie de La Soujeole, and technical director Stanislas Bonnin.
The Association FIBD’s terms for a re-run sounded enticing but were fundamentally rejected by publishers and authors unions in a 90-minute emergency conference call on Thursday night. One person later described the terms as acceptable if they had been offered in January 2025.
Those present at Thursday’s conference demanded the complete removal of 9e Art+, Bondoux, and now also Association FIBD president Delphine Groux. This latter point is particularly held by the 51-member alternative publishers union Syndicat des Éditeurs Alternatifs (SEA) who feel that any terms and continued relationship offered by an organisation that had so severely discredited itself were worthless.
Delphine Groux, president of Association FIBD — ©Alistair Dabbs
By Friday morning, the national publishers union Syndicat National de l’Édition (SNE) officially joined the SEA’s call for the removal of Delphine Groux. Benoit Pollet, president of the SNE’s comics group, the 24-member body that includes the largest players in French bande dessinée, said to the AFP:
“Trust has been broken. We are waiting for a strong response from the public authorities, who must take the lead in proposing a solution that satisfies the various partners. Without this, the 2026 edition is compromised and the festival will not recover.”
Pollet, who also serves as director general of Glénat, added:
“After refusing to take our recommendations into account, after reneging on her commitments, after being the architect of this chaos, (Delphine Groux) cannot lead a new call for projects.”
For authors unions who, besides the Syndicat national des auteurs et les compositeurs (SNAC), were included in these crisis talks for the first time – the end of the reign of Bondoux, 9e Art+, and Groux were just the start. While a full list of specific demands was yet to be agreed and submitted, they broadly fell along the lines that the festival needed to become more egalitarian with authors given more privileges that respected their time, busy schedules, and wellbeing; those up to now exclusively enjoyed by publishers and celebrity authors. They also wanted proper procedures in place to protect against sexual harassment and violence on the festival weekend – for professionals and the public.
A major hurdle for all present would be legally ending 9e Art+’s contract early. The company is still signed up to organise the 2026 and 2027 editions of the Angoulême Festival, and while Franck Bondoux has ‘officially’ stepped down earlier than he previously promised, there is no guarantee that he has truly done so. Bondoux remains majority shareholder of 9e Art+ and operates the company that arranges private sponsors for the festival (Partnership Consulting), rendering his declared immediate retirement merely symbolic.
The added issue is the fate of the Association FIBD. The Angoulême Festival and its association – which controls all copyrights related to the event – were founded by Francis Groux, Jean Mardikian, and Claude Moliterni in 1974. Both Mardikian and Moliterni are deceased, while Francis (now in his 90s) had his daughter Delphine Groux take his place and she has held the role of president of the association since 2016. While it is unclear what the exact membership and decisionmaking processes of the association are, Delphine Groux has brought its relationship with Bondoux closer – frequently backing actions that are controversial at best. While Bondoux’s ouster was top of the list of demands, Groux has now put herself in the line of fire as Association FIBD’s leader and public representative. Earlier in the day Groux had said to the press that she had no intention of standing down as association president but it grows increasingly likely that the association could be stripped of its powers and cease to exist if the 51-year-old French cultural institution is to have any future.
Asked by Charente Libre about the chance of her exit, Groux said (via DeepL):
“This question is not on the agenda. No one can demand that, and I believe I am doing my job. I think I have done well beyond my duty since I arrived.”
Meanwhile, with France3 Groux spoke about the dim reception to the association’s Thursday morning proposal to resolve the crisis:
“We have taken a collaborative approach from the outset. As the festival is truly in danger, we agreed to review the proposal and put forward a solution that should satisfy everyone. We have agreed to all demands, what more could you want?”
On Wednesday, the Charente region’s Hotel and Restaurants Group (GHR) made an appeal to resolve the situation. They revealed that 2014’s edition of the festival brought in €1.1 million ($1.28 million) for catering, and accommodation brought in €722,000 (~$840,000) to Angoulême’s local economy. The occupancy rate of hotels jumped from 20% to 90% on the Saturday alone, with the overall average being 80% across the 4-day festival weekend (and that’s probably excluding the occupancy rate and amount spent on AirBnBs). This all taking place in late January, when tourism season is in the rearview mirror.
Presidents of the GHR Amaury Legrand and Anthony Touteau said to regional newspaper Charente Libre (via DeepL):
“These figures from 2014 are well below the current reality ten years later. We are also aware that the economic benefits of the Festival extend beyond our sector, and there are many companies that benefit from the comic book ecosystem. It is our jobs in Charente that are under threat.
“It seems inconceivable that we could lose the International Comics Festival, which, in addition to cutting off direct benefits, would send a disastrous signal to the desirability of our region. We call on those in charge of the Festival, those who have a real and direct impact on calming the situation, and the political forces in charge, to do the right thing and make sure the festival can be held in the right conditions, starting with the 2026 edition.”
The number of names to add to the boycott list is still growing with the most recent publisher being humour-specialist Bamboo, current home of the 50-year-old adult comics magazine Fluide Glacial. Meanwhile another name joins the elite Grand Prix protest: 2015 laureate, Akira-creator, filmmaker, and mangaka Katsuhiro Otomo.
The mayor will meet with the Association FIBD and 9e Art+ on Friday.
More background on this story: (Part One); (Part Two); (Part Three)
Association FIBD press release – morning of November 13, 2025 (translated via DeepL)
The Association FIBD, owner of the Festival, had selected two complementary organisations (9e Art+ and publicly-owned Cité de la BD) to operate the Festival starting in 2028. This choice clearly did not meet with the approval of the Festival’s stakeholders. Faced with the resulting protests, and in an effort to resolve the situation, the Association affirms the sincerity and responsibility of its choice.
However, mindful of the expectations of those involved in the event and keen to preserve the integrity and reputation of the International Comics Festival, the Association, attentive to the requests and concerns that have been expressed, has decided:
– to invalidate the results of the call for tenders.
– to set up a steering committee to launch a new selection process.
This committee must offer guarantees of transparency and co-construction in both its methods and decision-making.
Composed of representatives of the Association FIBD, public funders, and professionals from the sector, this committee will have the following tasks:
– to define the strategic orientations and priorities for the next call for proposals,
– to design and draft the requirements and ensure their proper communication,
– to ensure that the artistic and cultural project is consistent with the Festival’s renewed objectives,
– to safeguard the contracts of staff employed by the current organizer (9e Art+)
– indicate the minimum contract duration of six years and the legal status of the supporting structure.
Composition:
– Four members of the Association FIBD membership college
– President of the ADBDA (Association for the Development of Comics in Angoulême)
– Three representatives of public funding bodies
– Two representatives of publishers
– Two representatives of authors
Each member will be appointed by their peers.
The committee will elect the chair for the entire duration of the work.
The committee will meet as often as necessary.
Mission expenses will be borne by the participants.
Candidate interviews will take place in person in Angoulême.
Schedule:
– December 18, 2025: Establishment of the steering committee.
– June 18, 2026: Announcement of results
Regarding the current organizing company which is still under contract for two editions (2026 and 2027), the Association affirms that 9e Art+ will not be renewed beyond that.
The Association will ensure that this process takes place in a respectful atmosphere, free from pressure and tension, in the best interests of the Festival.
9e Art+ press release, distributed through the official Festival email account) — midday November 13, 2025 (translated via DeepL):
In a press release dated today, the Association FIBD has announced its decision to cancel the call for proposals it had launched to select the organizer of the Angoulême International Comics Festival from 2028 onwards.
In light of the positions taken by many stakeholders in the comics sector, it has decided:
To cancel the results of its call for proposals, which invited La Cité internationale de la bande dessinée et de l’image (Cité de la BD) to join forces with 9e Art+ to develop a joint project.
To launch a new call for proposals at a later date, specifying that 9e Art+ would be excluded from participating. It also specified that 9e Art+ would not be able to apply for the latter.
9e Art+ takes note of this decision.
It understands that the aim of this decision is to seek reconciliation with stakeholders in the world of comic book authors in order to preserve the leading event in their sector in the short and long term.
Sharing the same concerns and mindful of the best interests of the event, which it has organized and developed for nearly two decades, 9e Art+ also wishes to take stock of the situation and act in the same spirit.
It notes that the Festival, due to its scale, influence, and exclusive dedication to the ninth art, is a unique event in Europe, and that it cannot continue to exist and flourish in a context of tension.
Wishing to put an end to the many misunderstandings, and in a common desire for appeasement, it calls for the immediate establishment of a dialogue with public funders and a restored relationship with authors and publishers.
Over the past several months, the valuable and decisive relationship between the Festival and authors and publishers has severely deteriorated. The primary objective of the Festival’s organizers is now to restore this trust, this attentiveness, and this loyalty. Through its team, the Festival hopes to restore calm through transparency and action. This approach is intended to be clear-sighted and multidimensional, and will involve a series of concrete measures aimed at putting authors’ voices back at the heart of the event’s concerns without waiting until 2028.
Franck Bondoux’s departure in 2028, which has already been announced on several occasions, was part of a change in the Festival’s governance. This transition is taking place with immediate effect, leaving it up to the team to ensure continuity in communications and preparations for the next two editions in a renewed spirit of collaboration.
This responsibility will fall more specifically to the Artistic Direction team, composed of Clémentine Hustin and Fausto Fasulo, Commercial Director Noémie de La Soujeole, and Technical Director Stanislas Bonnin.
The time for silence and uncertainty is over; now is the time for a strong, clear, and collective commitment. Only sincere and intelligible dialogue between public funders, authors, publishers, and the Festival team will restore confidence and guarantee this event the stability it deserves— serving both creativity and the public.
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