The film co-production protocol between Portugal and Brazil will be resumed, after being interrupted during the Brazilian presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, president of the Cinema and Audiovisual Institute (ICA).
“The Luso-Brazilian agreement is being resumed. The protocol will be revised, updated and modernized,” said Chaby Vaz on the sidelines of the “Luso-Brazilian Cultural Dialogues” meeting held at the Casa da América Latina in Lisbon.
Portugal and Brazil signed an agreement in 1981 – updated in the following decades – to “concretize the cinematographic relations between the two countries”, which led to the co-production of Portuguese and Brazilian feature films, financed by both states.
However, during the Brazilian presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, which has been criticized for its disinvestment in the cultural sector, the protocol “was not formally abandoned, but it did not materialize,” recalls Luís Chaby Vaz.
The partnership should be resumed later this year, with applications expected to resume in the second half of the year.
The announcement of the resumption of the Luso-Brazilian partnership comes today, on the day that Brazil’s new president, Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, begins a five-day state visit to Portugal.
According to Chaby Vaz, the protocol will include 350,000 euros of financial support from Portugal – the previous value was 300,000 euros – and another equal amount from Brazil to support the co-production of four feature films.
One of the discussions held today at the Casa da América Latina in Lisbon was about the film and audiovisual market in Portugal and Brazil, with the participation of Chaby Vaz, President of the Portuguese Association of Independent Producers (APIT), Susana Gato, Secretary of Audiovisual of the Brazilian Ministry of Culture, Joelma Gonzaga, and film director Liliane Mutti.
During the debate, interest was expressed in extending the protocol to the audiovisual sector, given the growth of production in this sector in Portugal over the last four years, as Susana Gato pointed out.
“We are at a good moment to strengthen the partnership with Brazil”, said the President of APIT, who was supported by Liliane Mutti, member of the Board of Directors of BRAVI, a Brazilian entity that brings together more than 600 film and audiovisual production companies.
During the debate, the President of the ICA expressed his support for the inclusion of the audiovisual sector in the Protocol, but recalled that this would require a deeper political and diplomatic review between the two countries.
Joelma Gonzaga underlined the Brazilian executive’s intention to resume investments in the film and audiovisual sector, focusing on “gender equality and social transformation”.