French author and comics writer Benoît Peeters will be in Manila on Nov. 25-26 to award young Filipino comics artists for creating their vision of Metro Manila in the year 2050.
The “Manila 2019-2050: City of the Future” is a series of events organized throughout 2019 by the Embassy of France to the Philippines. It intends to bring together French and Filipino experiences and expertise in sustainable and livable urban development, and focuses on a vision of what Metro Manila can potentially become by 2050: a region of sustainability, a center of economic and technological progress, and more importantly, a home for its inhabitants.
As part of this initiative, the “Manila 2019-2050: City of the Future Comics Contest” was launched in collaboration with Peeters and Komiket, which invited professional and amateur artists to submit original comics strips illustrating their vision of Manila around 30 years into the future.
A jury led by Peeters, the French Embassy, and Komiket will select a grand prize winner from the professional category who will receive an all-expenses paid trip to France to attend the Angoulême International Comics Festival, one of the world’s biggest and most prestigious events dedicated to comics.
The works of 20 finalists from the professional and student categories will be exhibited at the 6th floor gallery of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde’s School of Design and Arts on Nov. 26.
In addition to awarding Filipino comics creators, Peeters will inaugurate From Obscure Cities to Futuristic Cities, an exhibit based on the award-winning French comics series he co-created with François Schuiten. A portrayal of a post-futuristic era where the fabrics of society and time strata intertwine, the series “Les Cités Obscures” (“Obscure Cities”) won the Manga Grand Prize at the 16th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2012.
From Obscure Cities to Futuristic Cities will be on exhibit from Nov. 25 to Jan. 11, 2020 at the Alliance Française de Manille Gallery in Makati City.