Silvina Cornillón, a well-known champion of Latin American animation, steps into her new role as director of the Quirino Awards with a clear mission: expand the event’s reach and cement its position as a driving force for Ibero-American animation.
“This isn’t just symbolic,” Cornillón told Variety of her appointment as the first Latin American director of the Quirino Awards, which will take place this weekend on the Spanish Canary Island of Tenerife. “It’s a commitment to ensuring diverse voices are represented and strengthening the bridge connecting all of Ibero-America.”
Cornillón took the reins in a transitional year, joining mid-cycle as the eighth edition of Quirino geared up for its annual gathering in Tenerife. Alongside the team, she’s already steering big ideas, particularly the launch of the new Futures Lab, which she described as a “collective intelligence project” designed to generate forward-looking strategies for the regional animation sector.
“Every year, we’ve built platforms for collaboration, but we realized the conversation often stayed between us,” she explained. “With the Futures Lab, we want to think bigger. We’re not just organizing meetings; we’re committing the sector’s key players to sit together, anticipate future scenarios, and transform ideas into concrete actions.”
Backed by Spain’s ICAA, the Futures Lab will bring together top industry names, public institutions, and policy thinkers to map out trends, tackle challenges like sustainability, explore the implications of AI, and deliver a strategic roadmap that can be presented at upcoming cultural summits. There are hopes this initiative will even feed into national policies across the region.
Importantly, Cornillón is not blind to the anxieties surrounding new technologies. While acknowledging the fears, particularly around the integration of AI into production pipelines, she sees opportunity. “Like any new technology, it creates uncertainty, even fear,” she admits. “But if we can integrate AI smartly, it could offer smaller studios and independent creators the tools to make content more competitively and at lower cost.”
This measured optimism echoes through Quirino as an intimate gathering attracting some global heavyweights such as Disney, Warner Bros., and Titmouse, all present at the event’s Co-Production and Business Forum alongside local, independent producers and filmmakers.
“When international executives find projects with authentic perspectives, and when regional producers see how they can align their strategies, the entire ecosystem strengthens,” Cornillón said. “It’s not just about dealmaking; it’s about real collaboration.”
Cornillón’s own track record includes years of advocacy both as assistant manager of animation at the National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts of Argentina (INCAA) and coordinating the revered Animation! section of Ventana Sur, but she’s cognisant that true industry change requires more than just raising profiles; it’s about shifting structures. She points to success stories like the Chile-Spain co-production “Firsts,” which started life winning La Liga award in 2019 before being pitched at Annecy in 2020 and arrives at Quirino successfully completed and nominated in Best Series. “These are the kinds of stories where you see that what we do at Quirino has a real, traceable impact on careers,” Cornillón said. “It’s a privilege to be part of that.”
The Quirino team, led alongside longtime collaborators, including the current executive producer of the awards, José Luis Farias, has broad ambitions to secure long-term stability and expansion. “There’s so much possibility,” she said, reflecting on the team’s plans for a multi-year strategy post-2025. “We want to think beyond one edition to the next; we want to create a plan, a roadmap.”
She also sees the uniqueness of Quirino as key to its strength: “It’s not Cannes; it’s not Annecy. There’s space here, space for connection, for reflection, for meaningful exchange between small players and big ones.”
This style of leadership seems set to combine pragmatism with a utopian spirit, one she believes defines the animation world itself. “Animation is an incredibly demanding craft,” she reflects. “It takes love, discipline, and often this almost utopian desire to change the world. So when you can help make one of those dreams real, that’s when everything makes sense.”
Quirino’s opens for its eighth edition with Cornillón and her team not just celebrating Ibero-American talent, but determined to shape its future.
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