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<DIV>FIFTH EDITION OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMICS FESTIVAL GRRR! PANCEVO APRIL
<BR>29th - MAY 9th<BR><BR><BR><BR>For the fifth time, in several locations in
the town of Pancevo, a gathering <BR>of comics creators, publishers and
theoreticians will be held. Along with <BR>the Main Program (which includes
exhibitions, panel disscussions, <BR>projections,concerts), is connected to the
venues of the Pancevo Cultural <BR>Center (including Gallery of Contemporary
Art), there's also an Additional <BR>Program spread in other locations in town,
such as clubs ( Arhiv and Studio <BR>21), Popovic Pastry Shop, etc.<BR><BR>Among
the guests of the festival is Chuck Sperry, coming all the way from <BR>San
Francsco, representing Firehouse - certainly one of the leading rock
<BR>posters design teams in the world today. Chuck Sperry is heavily
influenced <BR>by comic art iconography,and was one of the editors of New
York's legendary <BR>World War 3 Illustrated magazine.<BR><BR>From Lisbon, we
have Rita Braga, a musician and cartoonist, who will <BR>perform live in
concert and display not only her own comics, but also (for <BR>the first time
ever taken from the private archives) cartoon works of her <BR>grandfather (Ruy
Braga) and great-grandfather (Antonio Braga)!<BR><BR>Andrea Plazzi, comic critic
and editor from Bologna, is going to curate an <BR>exhibition of Cover
Designs of Italian Comics Magazines from the 60s (which <BR>influenced many
other comics publishing ventures, including Yugoslav ones). <BR>It definitely
was one of the most exciting periods of Italian and European
<BR>comics.<BR><BR>Also on display will be an exhibition of works inspired by
Walt Disney <BR>creations, produced (mostly by local artists) in Central and
Eastern Europe <BR>in the years before the Cold War.This unique material will be
presented, <BR>probably for the first time, in an overview by Didier Ghez,
a popular <BR>culture reasercher and collector of vintage Disneyana from Paris.
Ghez is <BR>currently employed by Walt Disney Company in Madrid.<BR><BR>GRRR!
also covers the inland scene - in addition to the series of <BR>exhibitions
dedicated to the history of comics in Serbia, Zdravko Zupan will <BR>curate an
exhibition in The Backyard Gallery, titled «Comics in Serbia <BR>1972-1975»,
presenting original editions and artworks from the
era.<BR><BR>Exclusivelly presented in this festival, will be original
pages of «Dikan» <BR>comics, created since 1969 by Lazar Sredanovic. Dikan is a
true local hero - <BR>generations of readers of Politikin Zabavnik ( kids
magazine originated in <BR>1939, and still in circulation) grew up reading
this comic about Ancient <BR>Slavic people, who suspiciously resemble
present day Balkanoids.<BR><BR>The panel discussion about comics publishing in
different parts of Europe <BR>will be joined by Omar Martini, the owner of Black
Velvet publishing house <BR>from Bologna, and Adam Halmos, representative of Art
Comix from Budapest.<BR><BR>Among the slide presentations this year there is
«Comix Files - Where the <BR>Ninth Art and the Other Eight Arts Meet» by Giannis
Koukoulas, editor of <BR>Athens' Galera magazine. The second talk will be
concentarted around the <BR>history of the (not yet well enough known) Hungarian
comics scene. It's <BR>going to be presented by Triceps, famous performance
artist from Budapest, <BR>originally from Subotica in Northern
Serbia.<BR><BR> Also present at the festival is British autobiographical
comics master Lee <BR>Kennedy, and a few other international cartoonists
including Piero Macola, <BR>an Italian author recently living (and publishing)
in Paris, Greek comics <BR>scriptwriter Dimitris Savvaidis, along with authors
from Hungary ( Balazs <BR>Grof), Austria (Edda Strobl and Helmut Kaplan), and
Slovenia ( Jakob <BR>Klemencic and David Krancan).<BR><BR>A separate show will
be dedicated to a magazine from Ljubljana, <BR>Stripburger, and their project
«Honey Talks!», which links the tradition of <BR>19th Century's Slovenian
painted beehives with contemporary productions by <BR>some of the most
interesting authors on the international independent scene.<BR><BR>This year's
GRRR! will be adorned by few unique exhibitions including "Home <BR>Made
Magazines in Serbia", which will show some of the fanzines and <BR>single-copy
home editions, from1926 to present. Plus, an exhibition <BR>dedicated to
products found in Serbia, inspired by Walt Disney stuff (mostly <BR>by anonymous
creators), including vintage rarities such as embroideries <BR>made in
1930s, depicting Mickey and Minnie Mouse.<BR><BR>As in previous years, the
festival will bring together many cartoonists from <BR>Serbia, too, including a
"big promise" of the Serbian comics scene, Maja <BR>Veselinovic, who will
exhibit her work in the legendary Pastry Shop Popovic.<BR><BR>As part of the
GRRR! Additional program, New York theremin player Dorit <BR>Chrysler will
perform live at a club called Arhiv. At the same place, an <BR>exhibition of
drawings inspired by Dorit and her music will present a <BR>selection of
cartoonists from several countries.<BR><BR> The festival will conclude with
an excursion to Deliblatska Pescara, where <BR>many people from the area
traditionally gather for the picnic on Labour's <BR>Day and where an exhibition
by Mr Spiral will mark an end of his 5 year-long <BR>project of exhibiting
comics at the shoe shop where he used to work. Also, <BR>Pancevo's scene will
represent itself through the comics-poster Silent Wall, <BR>and a compilation of
local bands titled Black Spot.<BR><BR>Additional Program includes an event at
the club named Studio 21, where <BR>underground music label Radioaktivno will
present the music of the local <BR>bands (usually very closely collaborating
with underground cartoonists as
<BR>well).<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>