The Alliance Française Dublin’s Comic Book Festival will be screening this year 7 episodes of the animated series Les Culottées (Brazen). Initially published in Le Monde Blog, Pénélope Bagieu's Les Culottées shines a new light on 30 women of various time periods and nationalities. Anonymous or well-known, each revolutionary in their own way, these women, wrote their own destinies, changed the world and tore down prejudice. Pénélope Bagieu’s best-selling graphic novel won the prestigious Eisner Awards for Best U.S. Edition of International Material in 2019.

The screening will be followed by a talk with French directors Charlotte Cambon and Phuong Mai Nguyen who adapted the comic book into the animated series in 2020.

Episode 1 Wu Zetian Empress 624-705 China: Destined to a thrilling career of nice concubine, Wu Zetian becomes the first Empress of China thanks to her political acumen and fierce intelligence. She leaves a mark on her country with her feminist and humanist reign.

Episode 2 Josephine Baker Dancer, Resistance fighter 1906-1975 USA/France: Josephine Baker isn’t just a music-hall star wiggling around in her banana skirt; she is also a committed and generous activist who uses her huge popularity to fight against racism and for Black people’s freedom.

Episode3 Leymah Gbowee Social worker 1972-… Liberia: Abused during the raging Liberian Civil War, Leymah Gbowee frees herself from her victim status to become a peace activist, rallying women against the dictatorship devastating the country. 

Episode 4 Naziq al-Abid Activist aristocrat 1898-1959 Syria: Born in a Syrian bourgeois family, Naziq al-Abid decides to fight for her country’s independence and becomes the first woman general of the national army.

Episode 5 Mae Jemison Astronaut 1956-… USA: Mae Jemison decided that being a Black woman isn’t going to be an obstacle to fulfill her dreams. She is the first Black woman sent to space. And the first female astronaut to play in ‘Star Trek’.

Episode 6 Sonita Alizadeh Rapper 1996-… Iran/Afghanistan: The young Afghan Sonita Alizadeh escapes forced marriage thanks to rap music and stands against Taliban’s dictatorship. With her fierce lyrics, she fights to change women’s lives in her country.

Episode 7 Thérèse Clerc Utopian Realist 1927-2016 France: Thérèse Clerc was destined to being the perfect housewife, when in 1968, she discovers feminist activism, and becomes a great advocate of abortion rights before founding a self-sufficient community residence for senior women.