The very Belgian love of the cartoon art form is on display in the West Flanders coastal resort of Knokke-Heist this summer, with the 63rd edition of the Cartoon Festival. This year’s incarnation will see Belgian and international cartoonists featured at three different locations, the festival’s venerable cartoon prize awarded, as well as workshops and opportunities to meet your cartoonist heroes at signings taking place throughout the festival, which lasts until 1 September 2024.
Choose Life
Festival director, Christophe Floré, is a veteran curator, artist and cultural entrepreneur, who has seen the Knokke-Heist event go from 12,000 visitors in 2009 to attracting 102,000 in 2023, to become the most important event in its genre in Belgium. This year he worked alongside guest curator Pieter De Poortere, the man behind the beloved comic book character and anti-hero, Dickie (Boerke) to shape the 63rd edition.
Together they themed the 2024 festival “Choose Life” and the concept is described by organisers as revolving “around the essential question: how do we shape our lives? Is it merely fate, or do our choices play a crucial role?” The curation explores cartoonists who, like de Poortere, are inspired by the many aspects of human existence and the French philosopher Albert Camus, blending disquiet and humour in a world that seems increasingly absurd.

Opera, drawing battles, and the Golden Hat
The main venue is Ravelingen Hall, a brand new events space situated conveniently close to the Heist train station for those making it part of a day trip to the seaside. There, in a collaborative work with Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (OBV), visitors will be immersed in a “listening shower” that ties cartoons into the OBV’s seasonal theme: Hop Hop.
Also at Ravelingen Hall, festival goers can witness a live drawing battle between artists Pieter De Poortere, Kim Duchateau and Niet Nu Laura, who will be assigned creations and judged in real time by audience members.
Meanwhile, also celebrating brand new work in the town’s new green lung of nearby Koudekerke Park, an open-air gallery brings together the best 100 cartoons from Belgian newspapers, magazines and social media created in the last year. The selection represents the cream of the crop from among 2,000 cartoons submitted by artists from over 70 countries as entries to the Golden Hat Competition, the oldest cartoon competition in the world with a top prize of 5,000 euros. The winners are on display over at the festival’s third venue, Museum HEY.