The third edition of the largest Macedonian comic festival, “Strip Trip 2025” begins on Friday in Skopje. The fans of the ninth art are eagerly awaiting the rich program that this cultural event will offer. The festival will be held from June 6 to 8 at the Youth Cultural Center (MKC), bringing a unique experience for all generations.
The main guest of the festival is the renowned German comic author Reinhard Kleist, who is known worldwide for his graphic novel biographies of David Bowie, “The Boxer” Hertzko Haft and “Olympic Dream – The Story of Samia Yusuf Omar” which had been translated in Macedonian, as well as his biographies of Nick Cave and Johnny Cash.
The festival will feature Kleist work through an exhibition, panel discussion, drawing session, as well as a unique drawing performance with musical accompaniment by Martin Džorlev, Viktor Stojanovski, and Marko Pečenović. The performance will include auction of his artworks with the proceeds going to the victims of the tragic fire in Kočani.
Other international guests at the festival include renowned comic book authors Marko Dješka from Croatia, Marko Stojanović from Serbia, and Gani Sunduri from Kosovo.
Through exhibitions, panels and drawing sessions “Strip Trip” will also feature the works of Macedonian authors Aleksandar Sotirovski, Smile Cvetanovski, Davor Dramićanin, Natasha Andonova, Filip Aleksovski, Matej Bogdanovski, Simon Kalajdžiev, and Stefan Nikolovski.
Writer and comics theorist Tomislav Osmanli will be presented with the “Macedonian Comic Book Heritage” award, which recognizes his contribution to Macedonian comic book industry.
The festival will include awards for the winners of the competition for the best short comics.
The “Strip Trip” program includes three separate exhibitions with comics art by the official guests and by the participants of the competition for new short comics. A series of panels and presentations of some of the latest domestic and regional comic book publications will also be held.
The festival also includes a comic book drawing workshop with Zdravko Girov, a drawing “jam” session with all guests, a live podcast with Fat Geeks, and a series of other interactive experiences.
The feature-length animated film “John Vardar vs. the Galaxy” by Goce Cvetanovski will also be screened, as well as short animated films by Marko Dješka. DJ sets by Kostadin Šurbanovski – Šurbe and Vladimir Blagojević – Vladodlak round out the multimedia program. More details and schedules are available on the Facebook and Instagram profiles of “Strip Trip”.
In addition to the regular program, on June 7 and 8, starting at 12:00, a comic book exchange will be held on the plateau of the MKC.
