■Greeting from the Sponsor
Eigoro Sonobe, Director General
Earthquake Restoration and Coordination Bureau
Good morning. I am delighted to see that so many animation fans have come here today to view the nominated works of Animation Kobe '97. This event is an important part of the KIMEC concept, which the City of Kobe has been pursuing since 1994. And while last year the public part of Animation Kobe consisted only of the Awards Ceremony, this year we were able to extend it and have a public screening of the winning works. I would like to express my deep gratitude to all the people who worked so hard to make this possible.
Animation is one of the world's best known "made in Japan" products. It is a mature form of expression which is enthusiastically accepted everywhere. Many Japanese animators are successfully working abroad, and there is talk of Hollywood productions that will incorporate Japanese animation into their scripts. Further, 1997 has proved to be the most successful year ever for Japan's animation producers, as Miyazaki Hayao's Princess Mononoke has broken all previous box office and attendance records.
Kobe's KIMEC concept is designed to meet the needs of the multimedia age, and the importance of contents creation and production in this process cannot be exaggerated. Therefore, we are delighted to sponsor Animation Kobe, an event aimed at supporting the animation industry and nurturing the growth of young talented artists. On behalf of Kobe City, the sponsor of Animation Kobe 97, I truly hope that this marvelous event will serve as a catalyst for the local industry and pave the way towards economic and cultural revitalization of our area. And just like all of you, I am anxiously waiting to hear the names of the winning works, which will be announced tomorrow. Thank you.
■Greeting from the Chairman of the Organizing Committee
Yasuki Hamano,the Chairman of the Organizing Committee
I am honored to be here, at the venue of the 2nd Animation Kobe event, and I would like to thank all of you who have joined us this morning for the public screening of the nominated works. On behalf of the Organizing Committee I would like to thank the movie companies, production companies, and movie theaters without whose kind support we would not have been able to stage this public screening. I hope to see many of you tomorrow at the Awards Ceremony as well. Akira Kamiya, whose recorded voice you will hear this morning, will be our MC, and Nozawa Masako and many other animators and industry people will join us there also. In addition, we are delighted to welcome, for the second consecutive year, Mr. James Hindman ,American Film Institute Co-Director and COO. There are wonderful presents to be won in the Awards Ceremony lottery, so don't miss it.
Sixty-five percent of the animation in the world is produced in Japan, making today's event very significant. I hope for the growth of animation into the marvelous global industry envisioned by today's younger generation, and to achieve this goal I look forward to seeing the further maturing of this event. Enjoy yourselves during the two days of Animation Kobe 1997. Thank you very much.
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