VIDEO. “Mars Express”, “Pat the dog”, “Grizzy”… The success story of Angoulême, capital of comics that has become a stronghold of animated cinema

When David Beauvallet, responsible for developing the image professions in Angoulême, takes us in his vehicle to explore the streets of the city, the list of the jewels of animation seems endless: “Xilam who created Space Goofs is on your right, Superprod who signs Pat the dog was established higher… This is also where the Grizzy and the Lemmingsone of the most viewed animated series in the world on Netflix. A tour of the studios like in Hollywood. The climate is radically different with a few degrees on the thermometer in January but the excitement of the place is undoubtedly similar.

For the passing tourist, it is impossible to realize the omnipresence of these companies in the former city of paper, better known as the capital of comics with its famous international festival, the 2024 edition of which begins this Thursday, January 25 and which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

Around thirty animation companies

Nothing indicates the anchoring of these cartoon factories in the city. “There are no signs on the buildings so as not to attract greed. Behind these addresses and facades there are expensive computers, state-of-the-art computer servers and confidential projects.”

In all, around thirty companies produce series and feature films here for television, cinema, streaming platforms or new media such as YouTube. Not all of them own their premises, David Beauvallet has the keys. The Magélis structure it represents, to be totally precise. The public organization was created in 1997, riding on the city’s image around comics to broaden its horizons towards special effects, virtual reality, video games and animation.

Financially supported by the city, the department and the region, Magélis is a little-known UFO in terms of economic leverage. In this prefecture of 41,000 inhabitants, the sector employs the equivalent of 1,500 full-time workers. 300 more in a year. “And we expect flourishing years 2025, 2026, 2027”, enthuses David Beauvallet. Angoulême has already established itself as the 2nd stronghold of animation in France. The Ellipse studio, hard at work on the next Marsupilami, has just announced that it is expanding even further in Angoulême by dedicating a new center to the adaptation of webtoons.

Production aid and school subsidies

In addition to production aid paid to studios, several thousand square meters workspace is now reserved for them in the city. To attract them to the West of France, 2 hours 11 minutes from Paris by TGV, Angoulême is renovating, building and rehabilitating with all its might. Over the last decade, the glut of content from streaming giants has accelerated the number of “made in Angoulême” productions. Magélis is able to find larger areas when the order book grows or to participate in maintaining activity when it temporarily weakens.

“In all honesty, I didn’t know Angoulême before coming,” entrusts Tanguy Launay, 3D animator who began his career in video games. He works at Superprod and is working on a new series, Heroic Footballsoon on screens. “Today it is the city that offers the most opportunities with Paris. You can have a house rather than an apartment, you can get around more easily. The quality of the studios and projects means that we have want to stay.”

A migration of talents has taken place. It is also not uncommon for spouses to work in competing studios, a few streets away, and to find themselves talking about work in the evening. “It’s true that it sometimes goes around in circles,” recognizes with a smile Alexandre Bretheau, former hand of the Marvel series “What if” and founder of the Loops studio specializing in 3D animation generated in real time, a cutting-edge innovation on which Angoulême is also banking. “When we wanted to leave Paris, we didn’t know where we were going and once we arrived in Angoulême, we were struck by an artistic spirit. We recognize each other among graphic designers and animators when we walk around.”

From schools to studios

The new residents provide essential labor to the studios. There is also those trained on site within 15 higher education schools whose courses are adapted to the needs of businesses. Production companies and establishments work hand in hand. “The presence of the studios makes it possible to involve their employees and best experts, to offer work-study programs and internships to the 1,800 Angoumois students, then jobs in the process,” explains the director of the school “L’Atelier”, a reference in 2D animation and founded by Thomas Debitus, passed by Disney. “There is very good employability: a third of our students stay in Angoulême at the end of their training, a third go to Paris and a third mainly go to foreign studios which recruit after leaving school.”

The Magélis structure helps establishments with subsidies. One more action in “this virtuous circle that we imagined”, resumes David Beauvallet. The actors are intertwined. The EMCA, for example, belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and is located in an old castle, owned by the department. “Between three and five schools, studios or artist collectives choose to settle in Angoulême each year.” Magélis also had the idea of ​​bringing out an incubator for students to support them in creating their own studio.

Angoumois production is recognized all over the world. The animated film Little Nicolas – What are we waiting for to be happy? competed at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022. Linda wants chicken received the Cristal for best feature film in 2023 at the prestigious Annecy animation festival. The Song of the Sea was nominated for an Oscar in 2015. Unicorn Wars And They shot the piano player appeared this year in the works preselected with a view to winning a statuette. And Mars Express could get a Caesar next month. To recite nobody else but them. Such influence benefits the city. Magélis estimates the turnover generated by animation for television and cinema at 40 million euros.