Francisco Pulido

Animacor 07, the 3rd International Animation Festival of Córdoba, is starting up, just as it is little by little turning into one of the most important animation festivals on the international scene and a cultural event with a huge media impact in Spain. In its brief but solid existence, the Festival has been a stimulating setting for meeting, exhibiting, presenting, and screening animation from all over the world. Animacor’07 is an event not to be missed by animation fans and for audience members seeking the latest trends and technology applied to cinema and the audiovisual world.

A total of 249 films were submitted to the festival this year from countries such as Spain, the USA, Russia, Korea, Argentina, Brazil, Slovakia, South Africa, Iran, Israel, Taiwan, and many more. Of these, thirty six have been selected to take part in the Festival's official Competitive Section. The Animacor'07 organization is proud to have put together a magnificent International Jury to take up the daunting task of selecting the films to receive awards in the Festival's different categories. New this year, our Children's Jury 2007 is made up of the winners of our Storytelling Contest, the participants of which are students from educational centers from the Community of Alto Guadalquivir from our province.

This contest is held as part of the actions that reaffirm Animacor's commitment to making the Festival a province-wide event. For this reason, please allow me, as President of the Córdoba County Council, to be especially satisfied by two of this year’s activities. Firstly, the "Province-wide Circuit of Animacor", which makes it possible for the boys and girls from our towns to see cultural offerings from the larger cities. And secondly, the "Festival’s Closing Ceremony, Awards and Tributes Ceremony”, which will take place in the Municipal Theatre of Montoro, a town 45 km from Córdoba that is easy to get to from the capital, and will go to show the fantastic cultural places that our province has to offer.

Along with this wide variety of films, our program also includes different activities. Firstly, the 2nd Forum for International Co-production is growing this year, where companies and television channels from the main countries in European animation production will take part: England, France, Italy, Germany, and of course Spain. With this, we boost our Festival’s mission of bridging industry and the main seekers of its products: the television channels.

The prestige that our Festival has earned is proven by the presence of a wonderful illustrator, drawer and animator this year, Oscar Grillo, who has been generous enough to create an exclusive exhibit for Animadrid'07: “Drawing the Sailor". It will delight professionals, surprise visitors, and entertain children audiences.

Once again, we will be delighted to offer school children matinee screenings at the Andalusia Film Archives and the drawing workshops. The conferences put on by important Spanish production companies, the workshops on applying new technology, the Anime program, the informative sections on the animator Joanna Quinn, and the Instructional courses by Animacor'07's Guest of Honor, the Oscar Award winning Alexandre Petrov will all be part of this year's Festival, in which we hope to bring the public new forms of culture and communication, which will make it possible for us to admire the talent of international figures and at the same time enjoy the economic repercussions of this industrial activity.

The international projection of a Festival such as Animacor is based on the support of different entities and public administrations. For this reason, I would like to give thanks for the confidence that has been entrusted to us by the Ministry of Culture through the ICAA, the Andalucian Institute of Youth, and especially the Andalusian Regional Government’s Ministry of Culture, with thanks to the County Deputy in Córdoba, Mercedes Mudarra, and the interest and collaboration that she has always shown for the Animacor project and the Festival in particular. And of course, I would highlight the crucial role carried out by the Festival Director, Antonio Zurera, whose work has made Animacor one of the best Animation Festivals.

There is a lot of animation still to be discovered in the years to come. And in this way, our background will undoubtedly benefit in the attainment of the goals of Córdoba 2016. All I have left to do is to welcome everyone participating in Animacor'07. And so, everything is ready. Come and make yourselves comfortable, the Festival is about to begin.

Francisco Pulido Muñoz
Presidente de la Diputación de Córdoba y de la Asociación para el Desarrollo de la Industria de la Animación, ANIMACOR