21st International Comics Festival will be held from 26th to 29th September, 2024

OPENING OF THE FESTIVAL

THURSDAY, Sep. 26, 2024. Main Hall SKC

SKC Belgrade,

48 Kralja Milan Street, Belgrade, Serbia

19:00, OPENING OF THE FESTIVAL EXHIBITIONS

20:00, AWARDS CEREMONY

EDITOR’S WORD:

The International Comics Festival is a festival of the ninth art, organized and led by the Happy Gallery of the Student Cultural Center Belgrade since its founding in 2003 as part of its regular editorial program. This festival is a non-profit event representing the largest and most comprehensive comics project in Serbia, and one of the most significant meetings of the ninth art in the region.

In the best tradition of its illustrious historical experiences, and in a precisely planned program space, for over 20 years the SKC Comics Festival has been held with exceptional success – a major international festival conceptually based on competition through an international call for authors of all ages from all countries worldwide; hosting the most relevant global comics authors; reevaluating domestic comics creations from its beginnings to the present; affirming domestic comics publishing; affirming young authors; popularizing comics and related expressions such as animated film and illustration.

The twenty-first edition of the Festival brings top achievements in the domain of comic art and illustration, both domestically and globally, as evidenced by the 131 submissions to the announced international competition, from 146 authors from 23 countries, as well as by the names of the guests and laureates of this year's festival.

Currently, the most significant Serbian author on the global comics scene, illustrator of Conan, Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes, and DC’s The Riddler series, Stevan Subić from Zrenjanin, is the main guest of this year's festival.

Visitors to the Comics Festival 2024 will also have the unique opportunity to experience the exhibition, Comics & Jazz: Rhythms of Space, an international guest project of the Animanima festival and the Cultural Center of Čačak, conceptualized by Milen Alempijević. This exhibition features the greatest world comics masters such as Guido Crepax, Altan, Muñoz & Sampayo, Paolo Parisi, Lucio Ruvidotti, Rubio & Sagar, Massarutto & Squaz, Youssef Daoudi, Danijel Žeželj, Cailleaux & Bourhis.

British and global rising star Zoe Thorogood, who gained worldwide popularity with the multi-award-winning autobiographical graphic novel It’s Lonely at the Centre of the World, will present her work at our festival as a guest of the Darkwood publishing house.

This year's Festival's Recognition for Contribution to Serbian Comics was awarded to journalist, publicist, and long-time editor of Politikin Zabavnik, Zeffirino Grassi. Art historian and leading Serbian comics theorist Slobodan Ivkov prepared a conversation with the laureate for the Festival program.

The 21st International Comics Festival will be held from September 26 to 29, 2024, in all spaces of the SKC. All programs are free and tailored for visitors of all ages.

Miki Pješčić, Editor of the Festival