ANCINE Forbids Employees from Screening Brazilian Film Making Bid for Oscar

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The ANCINE’s Secretariat of Internal Management has vetoed the screening of the film ‘The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmão’, by director Karim Aïnouz, for the agency’s staff.

The event would provide training for staff working in the agency in charge of designing public policies and overseeing the national film industry.

‘The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmão’ is the Brazilian film entered for the 2020 Oscar dispute. To be eligible for the award, the movie will need to be approved for one of five spots for the best foreign film award. A total of 93 productions have been entered in this preliminary stage.

The ANCINE’s employees have anonymously said that the screening was scheduled for Thursday, December 12th. The employees organize a monthly screening of a national film and hold a debate with producers. The event is part of an annual training program which the employees undergo for career path progression.

The Secretariat of Internal Management, headed by Cesar Brasil Gomes Dias, has internally reported that the event could not be held because the projector in the exhibition hall was damaged. Sought by employees, the official in charge of maintaining the site said that there was no technical issue with the device.

Fernanda Montenegro is among the actresses appearing in ‘The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmão’, who has been insulted by the current Secretary of Culture, Roberto Alvim, as “rotten” and “a liar”.

He harassed the actress in September, when he was director of the FUNARTE’s Center for Performing Arts. Alvim had been angered by a cover of the magazine ‘Quatro Cinco Um’, in which Fernanda Montenegro appeared dressed as a witch, standing on top of a bonfire of books.

On November 29th, more than 100 pictures with national movie posters were removed from ANCINE’s buildings and taken to a warehouse in downtown Rio de Janeiro. The pictures had been in the agency’s common areas since 2002.

All posters of Brazilian releases were also deleted from the ANCINE website. The agency denied that the measure had been a retaliation against movies reflecting political positions contrary to the government of Jair Bolsonaro.