The Pôle Image Magelis
Created in the late 1990s in the Saint-Cybard district, Magelis is the public cluster that brings together in Angoulême the animation, visual effects and video game studios: around a thousand jobs, dozens of studios and the two major image schools.
Genesis of a cluster: from the 1990s to today
The Pôle Image Magelis was not born from a sudden administrative decision, but from a progressive logic rooted in Angoulême's cultural history. As early as the 1980s, the reputation of the international comics festival draws image professionals to the city. In the late 1990s, public authorities — city, department, region and state — decide to capitalise on this informal ecosystem by creating an institutional framework: the Pôle Image Magelis. Its name is borrowed from the rue du Nil and the Magelis district in the Saint-Cybard zone, on the banks of the Charente, below the upper town.
The cluster's ambition is clear: to create the conditions for a sustainable, locally-rooted image economy sector, by grouping in the same geographical area the studios, schools and cultural facilities linked to comics and animated image. This geographical concentration fosters synergies, skills sharing and the emergence of a shared professional culture.
The studios: from animation to video games
Magelis today brings together dozens of studios of varying sizes and specialisms. These include 2D and 3D animation studios producing television series for major French and foreign broadcasters, companies specialising in visual effects (VFX) for cinema and advertising, independent video game studios, and multimedia and digital production companies. This sectoral diversity strengthens the cluster's resilience: skills are exchanged across disciplines, and studios can collaborate on projects that cross animation, VFX and interactivity.
The productions created by Magelis studios are distributed internationally. Animated children's series destined for French channels (France Télévisions, Canal+, M6 and their subsidiaries) as well as foreign platforms have been made in Angoulême. The city is thus present on screens around the world, often without viewers being aware of it.
The schools: EESI and EMCA
Two major schools are at the heart of the Magelis framework and feed its talent pool. The EESI — École européenne supérieure de l'image — is a higher art school that trains comics authors, illustrators, graphic designers and digital artists over five years. Its diploma is recognised at European level (master's grade), and its students come from all over France, Europe and beyond. The EESI maintains close links with the studios and players in Angoulême's comics sector.
The EMCA — École des métiers du cinéma d'animation — is specialised in the technical and artistic professions of animation: 2D animators, 3D animators, storyboard artists, animation film directors and production designers. Its graduates are highly sought after by French and international studios. The EMCA directly feeds the Magelis studios' talent pool and is an essential cog in the local animated-image sector. These two institutions belong to territorial higher education and are part of the area's educational and economic policy.
Economic impact and jobs
Magelis accounts for around a thousand direct and indirect jobs on the Angoulême territory — a figure that makes it one of the leading employers in the cultural and creative sector in Nouvelle-Aquitaine outside Bordeaux. This sector is particularly valuable in a mid-sized city like Angoulême, where it acts as an attractiveness driver for young graduates and a source of non-relocatable economic added value.
The Magelis model is part of a territorial economic development strategy based on the city's cultural strengths. By turning comics and animated image into not only a cultural vocation but also a viable economic sector, Angoulême has managed to build a durable competitive advantage. This success is regularly cited as an example of local development policy through cultural attractiveness, and the model is studied by other French and European authorities. For more on the local economic fabric, see the page on the Angoulême economy.
Magelis and the Cité de la BD
The Magelis cluster and the Cité internationale de la bande dessinée et de l'image (CIBDI) are the two institutional pillars of Angoulême's image vocation. They complement each other naturally: the CIBDI preserves, exhibits and valorises the heritage of the ninth art; Magelis produces the works of tomorrow. Students at the EESI and EMCA regularly visit the CIBDI's exhibitions, and the authors exhibited at the museum often have links with the cluster's studios. This porosity between conservation and creation is one of the strengths of the Angoulême model.
Magelis, crossroads of digital creation
By bringing together initial training, professional production and shared infrastructure within the same geographical area, Magelis has succeeded in transforming Angoulême into a recognised centre of expertise in animated and digital image — a durable economic asset serving a city that has made culture its engine of development.
2D & 3D animation
Angoulême's studios produce animated series for the largest French and foreign channels and platforms. The tradition of 2D animation, inherited from comics, coexists with contemporary 3D production.
Visual effects (VFX)
Several Magelis studios specialise in visual effects for cinema, advertising and television series. This skill, demanding in technical and human resources, is one of the cluster's differentiating strengths.
Independent video games
An independent video game scene has developed in Angoulême in the wake of Magelis, benefiting from the pool of graphic designers and animators trained locally at the EESI and EMCA.