Government Provides R$40 Million to Produce 34 Films in Brazil

By Jay Forte, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Brasil de Todas as Telas (All Screens of Brazil) program supported by the Agência Nacional do Cinema (National Cinema Agency, or ANCINE) announced yesterday, Wednesday, August 31st, that they will invest R$40 million in the production of 34 new feature films this year. While the program is only in its second year, since 2008 the Fundo Setorial do Audiovisual (FSA) credit line has enabled the production of 190 Brazilian films.

In this last call, 278 projects from all over Brazil were submitted for consideration. The 34 selected projects were presented by producers from eleven states (Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Santa Catarina, Bahia, Pernambuco, Ceará, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás, Rondônia) and the Federal District, and cover genres in fiction, documentary and animation.

During a ceremony announcing the selected films, head of ANCINE, Manoel Rangel, said, “The 34 Brazilian films announced today represent parts of diversity, plurality and strength in Brazilian culture. [The films] are fictions, documentaries and animations that speak to all sectors of our society.”

As defined in the call for entry regulations, thirty percent of the total resources is intended for producers based in the North, Northeast and Midwest of Brazil, and fifteen percent of the projects considered are for companies producing in the South or the states of Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo. The goal is to avoid the centralization of funding on projects in the two major film centers of the country: Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

Steve Solot, Presidente of the Rio Film Commission, and an American expatriate based in Rio de Janeiro, explained, “The program Brasil de Todas as Telas is critical to support the national film industry. This time 34 films were awarded funding out of 278 applications. It is extremely competitive.” Adding, “This funding line is not open to foreign filmmakers. However, it may be indirectly accessed if the international producer is a co-producer of the film which is awarded funding.”

ANCINE also announced the launch of the next edition of the program, and that the Public Call Prodecine 01/2016 of Brasil de Todas as Telas – Year three will provide R$45 million for investment in the production of feature films. Registration will be open today, Thursday, September 1st, and go to the 17th of October.