Ugo Bienvenu and Bill Plympton guests at French Animation Festival

By John Freeman on October 10, 2025 • ( 0 )

Comic creators Ugo Bienvenu and Bill Plympton are part of guests of a new Fête du Cinéma D’Animation at the Ciné St-Leu in Amiens, France next week.

Ugo Bienvenu, the co-creator of the Marvel’s Ant-Man animated series with Kevin Manach at PASSION, came up through the ranks at leading design institutions Estienne, Les Gobelins, CalArts and Les Arts Decoratifs in Paris, attracting international attention and acclaim. It was during his time in California that he turned to 2D animation as his main medium, cultivating a contemporary, experimental style reminiscent of American comics of the 1940s and 50s.

His work, which has a distinctive, evolving aesthetic, is much in evidence in his short animated films, music videos as well as his comics and illustrations.

The PASSION Group includes Passion Pictures, a sister studio in France, PASSION Paris, full-service animation studio Strange Beast and award-winning documentary makers Keo Films.

The event sees a screening of his latest film, Arco, the story of a 12-year-old boy living in a far future. During his first flight in his rainbow suit, he loses control and falls into the past. Iris, a little girl his age from 2075, rescues him and tries to help get him back to his own time.

Fête du Cinéma D'Animation - Bill Plympton Masterclass

Born in Portland, Oregon, in 1946, Bill Plympton moved to New York in 1968 and took classes at the School of Visual Arts while working as a cartoonist and illustrator for The New York Times, Vogue, The Village Voice and Rolling Stone. His political cartoon strip Plympton, which began in 1975 in the SoHo Weekly News, was eventually syndicated, and appeared in over 20 newspapers.

Make Toons That Sell Without Selling Out By Bill Plympton

In the 1980s, he made his first animated short films, (Your Face, released in 1977), nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film), and a first feature film, The Tune. In 1998, his second feature film, I Married a Strange Person won the Grand Prix à Annecy. Mutant Aliens, his third animated feature film, released in 2091, secured a second Grand Prix à Annecy.

The tenth anniversary edition of his book, Make Toons That Sell Without Selling Out, a guide on how to make a career in animation, was re-released in 2022 in paperback.

Bill Plympton’s appearance is accompanied by a screening of his 2023 film, Slide, the tale of a mythical cowboy who appears in the corrupt logging town of Sourdough Creek. With the aid of his slide guitar and a giant Hellbug, he’s able to battle the evil Mayor and his equally selfish twin brother to clean the place up…

Bill wil also lead a masterclass at this new event.

The Ciné St-Leu is an independent cinema located in the heart of the Saint-Leu district in Amiens, a stone’s throw from the famous cathedral. It offers a year round programme of the best of films by contemporary French, European and world authors, including animated films, films for young audiences, cult films, previews, meetings, debate evenings and many special screenings.

• The full schedule for this Fête du Cinéma D’Animation
(14th – 17th October) can be found here: cine-st-leu.com

• Tuesday 14th October: Screening of Arco and meeting with Ugo Bienvenu
• Thursday 16th October: Screening of the Duel in Monte-Carlo Del Norte and meeting with Bill Plympton
• Friday 17th October – Bill Plympton Masterclass

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.