In a breath-taking plot twist, the health of Brazil’s indie production sector of films and TV shows has turned from the worst crisis in 30 years to an unprecedented boom.
The growth is fuelled by commissions from streaming platforms such as Netflix, local Globoplay, Amazon Prime Video and HBO Max, and most recently the “resurrection” of federal incentive body Fundo Setorial do Audiovisual (FSA).
“We never produced so much in the history of Brazil,” helmer Paulo Sergio Almeida, head of film marketing and research firm Filme B, told Variety.
The scenario today is radically different from the one in 2019, when the National Cinema Agency (Ancine) virtually paralyzed funding for the FSA, by far the main local incentive. The Federal Accounts Tribunal (TCU) dictated the halt, due to alleged inadequacies in Ancine’s system of audit expenses of productions subsidized with FSA coin.
In the same year, the far right Jair Bolsonaro was voted in as president of Brazil. Following the path of Donald Trump, whom he publically acclaimed, Bolsonaro waged a war against “leftist” filmmakers and artists in general. He first threatened to shut down Ancine, then he delayed nominations for key positions in the agency and on FSA boards and committees, which maintained the fund’s paralysis.
Then came the pandemic, which closed theaters and sets, creating a perfect storm for the sector. The perception then was this was the deepest crisis since 1990, when the federal government closed production and distribution agency Embrafilme. Since then, new incentive mechanisms and the creation of Ancine rebuilt the industry, whose output rose from no movies opened to 169 Brazilian features theatrically released in 2019, still reflecting the pre-crisis production.
But the pandemic had also the positive effect of driving the expansion of streaming platforms and the appetite of international platforms for Brazil’s over 220 million people market.
Here, the big world players have to face the competition of Globoplay, the streaming platform of local giant media group Globo, which has telenovelas and other shows made in-house and is also commissioning from indie producers. (Variety)