Presentation of CINEANIM (24/03/2009)

Cineaním is a season of leading feature-length animation films for children, running from 28 March to 27 June. The initiative was launched by Animacor and the Andalusian Film Institute, with the backing of Córdoba Provincial Council and the Andalusian Regional Government Department of Culture. Films will be screened at 12.00 in the Andalusian Film Institute, and entry is free on a first-come, first-served basis.
 
The season will start on 28 March with the feature-length animation Dragon Hill, by Milímetros Dibujos Animados, and for the next three Saturdays in April the animations selected are Cristóbal Molón, by Irusoin;  Gisaku, by Filmax; and El Cubo Mágico, by M5 Audiovisual.

Over the next few months, highlights of the programme will include feature-length animations such as Nocturna, El lince perdido and El embrujo del Sur. A number of Asian animation movies will also be screened, including “Porco Rosso” and “My Neighbor Totoro”.

The President of the Córdoba Provincial Council, Francisco Pulido, noted that "The animation industry has become a real business in Córdoba, one which we have to develop to the full as part of our overall project for the city … That’s why we are keen to take the Animacor project another step further, as a way of building for the future, of putting into practice our view of culture as an industry, and of helping to build a world with better values".

The Provincial Councillor for Culture, Joaquín Dobladez, highlighted the fact that “the season is here to stay", adding that “as well as plenty of Andalusian animation films, the season will include retrospectives, anthologies, shorts, classics and leading anime films ".

The aim is to attract very young audiences, aged between three and eleven, to the idea of animation films, and at the same time to provide a new cultural option in Córdoba, thus broadening the range of the city’s cultural programme as part of its drive to be chosen European Cultural Capital in 2016.

Animacor’s Director, Antonio Zurera, stressed the importance of initiatives of this kind in contributing to the creation of an Andalusian audiovisual industry. He explained that, after five years of planning, “this year saw the release of three feature-length animation films, two of which were nominated for Goya prizes, one of them successfully; 13 Andalusian shorts were also entered for the Animacor competition".

This new initiative lends greater weight to the partnership between institutions – which started with the organisation of the Animacor Festival – and enhances the value of animation as a film genre, by persuading official bodies such as the Andalusian Film Institute to screen animation films as part of their regular programme, something which had not been done before.