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In a speech read on her behalf by the ministry's deputy director Baba Abderezak, the Minister of Culture and Arts, Soraya Mouloudji, said that this festival “was part of the strategy of cultural diversity to which the Ministry of Culture and the Arts is committed.”

“This festival is dedicated to the pioneers of this art, who used it as a means of resistance during the Liberation Revolution,” the minister added.

At the opening ceremony, tribute was paid to Algerian cartoonist Mohamed Mazari, known as “Maz,” and to the Japanese academic and cartoonist Aoyogi Etsuko.

The five-day festival will be an opportunity for the new Algerian cartoonists, who will be presenting their new works in Arabic, Tamazight and French.

Furthermore, the festival will be marked by the holding of several conferences and round tables on the 9th Art, led by scriptwriters, cartoonists, academics and cosplay professionals from Algeria and many other countries, including Tunisia, Syria, the United States, Japan, Egypt and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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