International Festival of Comics and Games

International Festival of Comics and Games
Status	Active
Genre	Comics/Games
Location(s)	Łódź
Country	Poland
Inaugurated	1991
Attendance	20 000+
Website	http://komiksfestiwal.com/en/

The International Festival of Comics and Games is an international festival of comics and video games held annually in Łódź, considered the largest event dedicated to this subject in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe.^[1][2] The festival's themes encompass comics in a broad sense, other types of sequential graphic novels, and interactive electronic media.

The event program includes meetings with creators, illustrators, set designers, game and comic publishers, gaming tournaments, workshops, exhibitions, and an international short comic book competition.^[3][4] The festival grounds also include a trade fair area, where visitors can find comics from around the world, books, and professional equipment for creators.^[5]

In the beginning, the festival was called the Convention of Comic Creators.^[6] The first one was held on 2 February 1991, in Kielce. All subsequent ones were held in Łódź. The name of the event was changed to International Festival of Comics in 1999, during the tenth edition. In 2008 the "and Games" was added to the name, as the event embraced the area of computer games.

The Festival's special guests included Grzegorz Rosiński, Simon Bisley, Akira Yamaoka, Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Risso, Stan Sakai, Marvano, Pat Mills, Clint Langley, Milo Manara, Jean Giraud, Tanino Liberatore, Zbigniew Kasprzak, Karel Saudek, Henryk Chmielewski, Tadeusz Baranowski, Janusz Christa, Bogusław Polch, Szarlota Pawel, Bohdan Butenko and Norm Breyfogle among many other international and local comic creators.^[1][6]

Each festival features workshops for cartoonists and screenwriters, led by experienced artists and experts.^[7] Lectures on comics, graphic novels and related fields, such as film and fantasy, as well as meetings with comic book creators and publishers, are also held. The festival also features a comic book fair, featuring booths from private collectors, publishers, and independent comic book publishers. The festival directors are Adam Radoń^[8] and Piotr Kasiński.

Each year a comic contest is held, where a special jury, composed of comic professionals and publishers chooses the best short comic submitted for the contest. The comic professionals and fandom prizes are also nominated and awarded during the Festival.^[9]

• Festival's Webpage
• Videos from the Festival