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Cinema of Brazil
Program increases
Divulgação
co-production by 200%
One of the flagships for
sales of Brazilian films
abroad, the program also
generated US$ 43 million
in businesses since 2006
Rounds of business
meetings between
Brazi-lian and international producers
By Belisa Figueiró
A
t the same time that the Brazilian cinematographic production reaches,
more and more, record numbers of
feature films finalized and exhibited in the
domestic circuit, the visibility of the Brazilian films abroad is also increasing vertiginously. Created in 2006, through a partnership between the Ministry of Culture (MinC),
the Audiovisual Secretary (SAV), the Agência de Promoção de Exportação do Brasil
– Apex (Brazilian Trade and Investment
Promotion Agency) and the Sindicato da Indústria Audiovisual do Estado de São Paulo
– Siaesp (Audiovisual Industry Union of São
Paulo State), the program Cinema of Brazil
is the flagship of this international turning
point and the co-production is one of the
preferred options by Brazilian producers.
According to Siaesp’s president, André
Sturm, since the beginning of Cinema of
Brazil Program, the international co-productions increased by 200%, which sums
up to US$ 43 million generated in international businesses. The image of Brazilian
cinema, according to Sturm, gets better at
each and every film festival in which the
national program entourage arrives, brin38 Revista de Cinema special edition
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ging the feature films and short subjects
for the exhibitions or just presenting the
projects still in production.
Through the Cinema of Brazil Program,
several producers go to film festivals and
participate in the business conversations.
The number of Brazilian representatives
varies from one festival to another and can
get up to 70 people per event. Today, the
program already have 95 associated companies, among them the biggest Brazilian
production companies such as 02, LC Barreto, Gullane, Tambelini, Conspiração and
Casa de Cinema de Porto Alegre. “Because
we had such a large growth, now this number should stabilize and it corresponds to
practically every producer that have a more
professional approach”, analyses Sturm.
Motivating the Brazilian
movie at film festivals
André Sturm, director of Cinema of Brazil Program
Altogether, he also counts 30 Brazilian
films that have already been through over 17
countries from different parts of the world
such as Israel, Greece, India, China, France,
Germany, Spain, Mexico and Colombia. Many
of these films were sold and distributed in the
commercial circuit throughout the last couple
of years. One of the most sold titles abroad last
year is the last movie by director Cao Hamburger, “O Ano em que Meus Pais Saíram de Férias” (The Year My Parents Went on Vacation).
It reaches 20 the number of countries that
already had the movie screened on its movie
theaters, and the film also were on the list of
the last nine candidates for the five nominations for the 2008 Oscars in the Best Foreign
Language Film.
To achieve this position in the North-American award, the producer Fabiano Gullane,
together with Cinema of Brazil Program, took
several copies of the movie to be screened in
the United States, besides the participation
in debates at universities and the realization
of closed sessions to specialized critics. A
series of advertising commercials were also
published in magazines such as Variety and
Hollywood Reporter, as well as the hiring of a
press agent, which made available information
about the movie and its producers.
“The Year that My Parents Went of Vacation” had its worldwide release at the 2007
Berlin Film Festival, an event that already has
a tradition of exhibiting Brazilian films. In this
year’s edition, the 58º Berlinale screened at
the main competition the movie “Elite Squad”,
by José Padilha, a national phenomenon that
lifted the numbers of the Brazilian box office in
2007. Besides this movie, parallel sections of
the festival showed “Maré – Nossa História de
Amor” (Another Love Story), by Lúcia Murat;
“Cidade dos Homens” (City of Men), by Paulo
Morelli; “Mutum”, by Sandra Kogut; and “Estômago” (Estômago: A Gastronomic Story), by
Marcos Jorge. Directors and actors of the respective films attended the event and were part
of the Brazilian entourage of Cinema of Brazil
Program in Berlin.
The annual list of film festivals that
the Brazilian entourages attend also
grows every year. Just in 2007, the Cinema of Brazil Program also took Brazilians to Rotterdam (The Netherlands),
Miami (USA), Rome (Italy) and Madrid
(Spain), where business meetings took
place. The peregrination also includes
the most prestigious film festivals in the
world such as Cannes and ClermontFerrand (France), San Sebastian (Spain)
and Toronto (Canada). In Brazil, the program promotes actions with focus on
the international market such as the Encontros de Co-Produção (Co-Production
Meetings) Brazil-Canada and Brazil-Galicia, and pitchings made at Rio International Film Festival, Feira Internacional
da Indústria do Cinema e Audiovisual
– FIICAV (International Fair of Cinema
and Audiovisual Industry) and São Paulo
International Film Festival.
Many of these business meetings
are the gateway for a Brazilian film
abroad, which means a portion of international investment in the project.
But these relations between producers become stronger little by little,
explains Sturm. “Co-production is like
a date, first there is the look, then the
first kiss and so on. Some of the business that we made in 2007 were initiated in 2006”. And just like the Brazilians search to join forces with their
foreign partners, the contrary also
holds true in here, and more frequently. Two international big-production
movies had Brazilian locations in 2007:
“Blindness”, by the Brazilian director
Fernando Meirelles (co-production
with Canada and Japan), also shot in
São Paulo; and “The Incredible Hulk”,
by Louis Leterrier, which had scenes
shot in Rio de Janeiro.
In the opinion of Cinema of Brazil
Program, the domestic market is more
and more prepared to receive external
investments. In the last couple of years,
the Brazilian companies optimized their
infrastructure and improved technology,
which was essential to attract production from other countries. “2007 was a
very good year, we had more producers
going to film festivals, more business
prospects. The image of Brazil is different now. People look at Brazilian cinema
being more professional, more institutional”, concludes Sturm.
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