The Komikazen International Reality Comics Festival () was an annual festival focusing on

non-fiction Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or content (media), media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real life, real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to pre ...

comics a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

. It occurred every year between 2005 and 2016 in

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, usually in the month of October. Komikazen was sponsored by the Mirada Association and organized by

Elettra Stamboulis Elettra Stamboulis (born December 31, 1969) is an Italian art curator and writer. She was the art director of Komikazen festival in Ravenna. She has written graphic novels including ''Piccola Gerusalemme'', ''Cena con Gramsci'' and ''Arrivederci B ...

and

Gianluca Costantini Gianluca Costantini (born December 19, 1971) in Ravenna, Italy, is a cartoonist, artist, comic journalist, and activist. Biography Gianluca Costantini is an Italian illustrator and cartoonist who received hi training at the Academy of Fine ...

. "Created with the aim of researching and investigating the relationships between the presentation of reality and graphic literature,""KOMIKAZEN 6TH INTERNATIONAL REALITY COMIC FESTIVAL,"
Komikazen official website (English). Accessed April 1, 2015. the festival was intended to promote and celebrate Ravenna as the capital of "reality-based" comics. The festival had no commercial areas, but instead focused on exhibitions, workshops, and discussions. As in the French city of

Angoulême Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; ) is a small city in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Charente, of which it is the Prefectures of France, prefecture. Located on a plateau overlooking a meander of ...

during the

Angoulême International Comics Festival The Angoulême International Comics Festival (AICF; ) is the second largest comics festival in Europe after the Lucca Comics & Games in Italy, and the third biggest in the world after Lucca Comics & Games and the Comiket of Japan. It has occur ...

, shops in Ravenna often customized their window displays with comics themes during the festival period. Related exhibitions in various venues in the Ravenna area generally remained on display for at least a month after the festival.

History

Mirada ("look" in Spanish) was founded in 1997 and moved to Ravenna in 2000. Its mission is to identify and promote young artists from the Ravenna region."KOMIKAZEN, 5° FESTIVAL INTERNAZIONALE DEL FUMETTO DI REALTÀ,"
Komikazen official website (Italian). Accessed April 1, 2015. Mirada was part of the Periscopages Association (based in Rennes, France), an organization devoted to

independent comics Alternative comics or independent comics cover a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to mainstream su ...

that included Babel (Athens, Greece), Comica (London, UK), Chili cum Carne (Lisbon, Portugal), the Boom Festival (St. Petersburg, Russia), and La Maison du Livre (Beirut, Lebanon). Periscopages Association disbanded in 2012. The first Komikazen was held on September 30, 2005, with special guests

Phoebe Gloeckner Phoebe Louise Adams Gloeckner (born December 22, 1960) is an American cartoonist, illustrator, painter, and novelist. Early life Gloeckner was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her mother was a librarian and her father, David Gloeckner, was ...

Joe Sacco Joe Sacco (; born October 2, 1960) is a Maltese-American cartoonist and journalist. He is credited as the first artist to practice rigorous, investigative journalism using the comics form, also referred to as comics journalism. His groundbrea ...

, and

Marjane Satrapi Marjane Satrapi (; ; born 22 November 1969) is a French-Iranian graphic novelist, cartoonist, illustrator, film director, and children's book author. Her best-known works include the graphic novel ''Persepolis (comics), Persepolis'' and Persepo ...

. The 2006 festival featured Turkish cartoonists of the long-running comics magazine ''Leman''. In 2007, the festival expanded to two days, and inaugurated the GEAR Awards, celebrating young artists of the local

Emilia-Romagna Emilia-Romagna (, , both , ; or ; ) is an Regions of Italy, administrative region of northern Italy, comprising the historical regions of Emilia (region), Emilia and Romagna. Its capital is Bologna. It has an area of , and a population of 4.4 m ...

region. In attendance were more than 50 artists from the nonfiction comics magazines '' Strapazin'' (Switzerland), ''Babel'' (Athens), ''Glomp'' (Finland), ''Chili Com Carne'' (Portugal), ''Hard Comics'' (Romania), and ''Stripoteka'' (Sarajevo, Bosnia). The exhibition ''Honey Talks'' was sponsored by '' Stripburger''. Artists featured in the exhibition included

Danijel Zezelj Danijel is masculine given name of Slovene, Croatian, and Serbian origin. Notable people with the name include: * Danijel Aleksić (born 1991), Serbian footballer * Danijel Alibabić (born 1988), Montenegrin singer and songwriter * Danijel Brezi� ...

Rutu Modan Rutu Modan (; born 1966) is an Israeli illustrator and comic book artist. She is co-founder of the Israeli comics group Actus Tragicus and published the graphic novels ''Exit Wounds'' (2007) and '' The Property'' (2013). Biography Rutu Modan was ...

, and Matthias Lehmann. The 2008 festival featured the first exhibition of Lebanese cartoonists in Italy. The 2009 show focused on stories that "originate with individual tension, research and experimentation." The 2010 Komikazen expanded to three days. The theme of the 2012 festival was the representations of Italy and featured more thirty Italian cartoonists and caricaturists:Beccaria, Antonella
"Komikazen, Ravenna invasa dai fumetti. Ospite l’antiMubarak Carlos Latuff,"
''

Il Fatto Quotidiano (English: "The Daily Fact") is an Italian daily newspaper owned by Editoriale Il Fatto S.p.A. and published in Rome. It was founded on 23 September 2009 and was edited by until 2015, when Marco Travaglio became the editor. The three deputy edi ...

'' (11 October 2012). (Italian) Luca Amerio, Luca Baino,

Francesco Barilli Francesco Barilli (born 4 February 1943) is an Italian actor, film director, screenwriter and painter. He is known to cult horror film fans for his ''Man From Deep River'' (1972), ''The Perfume of the Lady in Black'' (1974) and ''Pensione Paura' ...

, Paolo Bacilieri, Lelio Bonaccorso,

Riccardo Cecchetti Riccardo is a male given name, Italian version of Ricardo or Richard. It also may be a surname. It means "Powerful Leader". It may refer to: People A–L * Riccardo Antoniazzi (1853–1912), Italian violin maker * Riccardo Bacchelli (1891–1985 ...

, Sara Colaone, Paolo Cossi,

Manuel De Carli Manuel may refer to: People * Manuel (name), a given name and surname * Manuel (''Fawlty Towers''), a fictional character from the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' * Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire * Manuel I of Portugal, king of Po ...

, Matteo Fenoglio Luca Ferrara, Manfredi Giffoni, Rocco Lombardi, Simone Lucciola, Riccardo Mannelli,

Giuseppe Palumbo Giuseppe Palumbo (born 10 September 1975) is an Italian former professional racing cyclist. Palumbo became Junior World Champion in the road race twice, in 1992 and 1993. Palumbo rode the Giro d'Italia in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2007 and 2009, ...

, Paolo Parisi, Luigi Politano,

Tuono Pettinato Andrea Paggiaro, better known as Tuono Pettinato, (12 July 1976 – 14 June 2021) was an Italian comics writer and illustrator. Selected works * ''Apocalypso! Gli anni dozzinali'', Coniglio Editore, 2010 * ''Garibaldi. Resoconto veritiero dell ...

, Marco Pugliese, Davide Reviati,

Marco Rizzo Marco Rizzo (born 12 October 1959 in Turin) is an Italian politician, who served as leader of the Communist Party (PC) from 2009 to 2023, and as leader of Sovereign and Popular Italy in 2022. Biography A graduate in political science in 1985, ...

, Luca Salici, Caterina Sansone,

Leonora Sartori Leonora or Leonara may refer to: People *Leonora (given name), a feminine given name *Leonora of Castile (disambiguation) *Leonora of England (1162–1216), Queen of Castile and Toledo as wife of Alfonso VIII of Castile * Leonora (singer) (born 19 ...

, Pietro Scarnera,

, Mattia Surroz, Alessandro Tota, Bepi Vigna, Andrea Vivaldo,

Zerocalcare Michele Rech (; born 12 December 1983), known professionally as Zerocalcare (), is an Italian cartoonist. His pen name, literally meaning "zero limescale", was inspired by an Italian TV commercial jingle for a descaler product, and was chosen wh ...

, Andrea Zoli. In addition, Komikazen was final event in the Italian national competition "Reality Draws." The 2013 festival was themed in solidarity with the

Occupy movement The Occupy movement was an international populist Social movement, socio-political movement that expressed opposition to Social equality, social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of real democracy around the world. It aimed primar ...

—99 cartoonists came to Ravenna and made work related to the concept of "

We are the 99% "We are the 99%" is a political slogan widely used and coined during the 2011 Occupy movement. The phrase directly refers to the income and wealth inequality in the United States, with a concentration of wealth among the top-earning 1%. It ref ...

." The theme of the 2014 festival was autobiography and biography.Editor
"Il festival Komikazen (Ravenna) compie dieci anni,"
''Fumetto Logica'' (September 8, 2014). (Italian) Headline guests included

Eddie Campbell Eddie Campbell (born 10 August 1955) is a British comics artist and cartoonist. He was the illustrator and publisher of '' From Hell'' (written by Alan Moore), and the creator of the semi-autobiographical ''Alec'' stories collected in ''Alec: ...

and

Gipi Gia Alfonso Pacinotti, better known by the pseudonym of Gipi, is an Italian cartoonist, filmmaker, and author. Biography Born in Pisa in 1963, he began his career illustrating for the publishing and advertising industries. He began illustrating ...

. The 2015 festival featured special guests

Ted Rall Frederick Theodore Rall III (born August 26, 1963) is an American columnist, syndicated editorial cartoonist, and author. His political cartoons often appear in a multi-panel comic-strip format and frequently blend comic-strip and editorial-cart ...

and

Carlos Latuff Carlos Latuff (born 30 November 1968) is a Brazilian political cartoonist. His work deals with themes such as anti-Western sentiment, anti-capitalism, and opposition to U.S. military intervention in foreign countries. He is best known for his i ...

. The final Komikazen festival was held June 20–22, 2016.

Official prizes

The GAER (Giovani Artisti dell'Emilia Romagna) prize is awarded to young cartoonists of the Emilia-Romagna region, whose work is then published in time for the following year's festival. Award ceremonies and exhibitions are held at the Ravenna Office of Youth Policy. * 2007 — awarded to Marino Neri and Leonardo Guardigli, whose work was published by Kappa Edizioni and Centro Fumetto Andrea Pazienza respectively * 2008 — Marina Girardi, published by Comma 22 * 2009 — Pietro Scarnera, published by Comma 22 * 2010 — Fabio Sera, published by Comma 22 * 2011 — Andrea Zoli, published by Comma 22 * 2012 — Jacopo Frey and Nicola Gobbi, published by Comma 22

Locations and dates

References

External links

Mirada Association website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Komikazen Comics conventions Cultural festivals in Italy Defunct multigenre conventions Recurring events established in 2005 Tourist attractions in Emilia-Romagna Festivals in Italy 2005 establishments in Italy

History

Official prizes

Locations and dates

See also

References

External links