News

It’s been a busy few weeks for RioFilme. The company, one of the largest city-backed audiovisual funds in Latin America, just had its first-ever stand at the Cannes’ Marché du Film as part of Brazil Country of Honor and is gearing to open a dedicated stand for the first time at Rio’s buzzy Rio2C, Latin America’s largest creativity event taking place from May 27 to June 1.

The Rio2C stand is held in partnership with Quanta, the São Paulo-based studio and post-production group that won the bid for the 30-year concession to Rio’s massive Polo Rio Cine Video, a complex of seven studios built by City Hall by 1988. Quanta has invested $15 million in renovating the complex and creating extra stages and plans to have a total of 15 fully operational studios in Polo Rio by March 2026.

The stand will showcase some of the industry’s leading tech resources.

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil — Rio2C, Latin America’s largest creativity event, will gather from May 27 to June 1 in its sixth in-person edition, boasting a record attendance of about 52,000 participants and 483 executives from 39 countries.

The continuous growth of the event, which this year has “The Edge of Perfection” as its central theme, is a reflection of the strength of the film and TV and creative industry in Rio, believes Rafael Lazarini, Rio2C founder.

The city is the headquarters of South America’s largest broadcaster and telenovela producer, Grupo Globo, and traditionally the country’s main center of indie film production – the birthplace of the 1960s and 1970s Cinema Novo movement of auteurs such as Glauber Rocha, Nelson Pereira dos Santos and Caca Diegues.

Tradition, the concentration of talents and the city’s attractions, combined with government policies, paved the way for the building of a strong production sector in Rio.

There is a tremendous demand for Brazilian features at domestic cinemas right now due to a combination of recently established federal government quotas for local pics and the low supply of U.S. blockbusters resulting from last year’s Hollywood strikes, said participants of this year’s Expocine, Latin America’s largest theatrical distribution-based industry event held in Sao Paulo.

A presidential decree set the quotas for 2024. Exhibitors with more than 200 screens must reserve 16% of their screenings for Brazilian pics. The percentage is lower for smaller exhibitors, dropping to 7.5% for exhibitors with just one screen.

The decree also establishes a 50% limit of occupation for a single pic – usually a U.S. blockbuster – in an exhibitor’s circuit. If an exhibitor chooses to screen a blockbuster in more than half of their screening sessions, it must compensate within the year with screenings of local pics above the quota.

Marcelo Lima, CEO of Tonks,...

Brazil’s film industry hits Berlin with a new stride in its step, bringing 46 producers and 80-plus films and projects, according to promotional org Cinema do Brasil, led by chairman André Sturm and manager, Maria Marta.

It is also in the process of receiving part of Brazil’s Paulo Gustavo Law funding, which is pouring RS2.8 billion ($571.1 million) into Brazil’s audiovisual sector, from rich states such as São Paulo to small town video stores.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s box office is beginning to return to pre-covid levels, as regional industries fire up in its Northeast and South.

At Berlin, São Paulo City film-tv agency Spcine, which has worked closely with Cinema do Brasil in recent years, is participating in a slew of activities, including AfroBerlin, aimed at bolstering Brazilian-African cooperation, the EFM’s Co-Production Market and Toolbox, a program focusing on diversity and inclusion, says Luiz Toledo, Spcine director of investments and strategic partnerships.

At the Award Ceremony of the 27th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF), awards were presented to the winners of the festival’s five competition programmes and PÖFF’s youth and children’s film sub-festival Just Film.

The jury of the Official Selection Competition, headed by Trine Dyrholm, selected Emma Dante’s drama Misericordia as their favourite, handing the film the Grand Prix for Best Film.

Dante adapted her own play of the same name, telling the story of three prostitutes who live in the wasteland by the sea, where a village of outcasts has emerged. Its star Simone Zambelli also scooped the Best Actor Award.

The jury commented on the film with the following statement: “A powerful film about how to stay supportive and, above all, exhibit humanity in a marginalised environment. Beautifully directed, shot and acted, the Best Film Award goes to Misericordia.”

The Best Director Award went toManuel Martín CuencaforAndrea’s Love.

Emma Dante’s film took the Grand Prix, plus best actor for Simone Zambelli.

Emma Dante’s Italian drama Misericordia won the award for best film in Official Selection Competition at the 27th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, at the awards ceremony held tonight.

Adapted from Dante’s own play of the same name, the film follows three sex workers living in a wasteland by the sea, where the only light in their lives is the young man they care for together.

Scroll down for the full list of winners

Simone Zambelli also received the best actor award in the section.

Papamichael is known for working as a cinematographer on films including ‘Sideways’ and ‘Nebraska’.

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Poff) has selected 15 films for the second year of its Critics’ Picks competitive section, including the world premiere of Light Falls from acclaimed cinematographer Phedon Papamichael.

Greek filmmaker Papamichael’s film is a thriller about a young couple vacationing on a Greek island, who suffer an accident when exploring an abandoned hotel.

Scroll down for the full list of Poff Critics’ Picks

The film is a Georgian-Albanian-Greek-German co-production, with dialogue in English, Albanian, Georgian and Greek. It is Papamichael’s first...

The first slate of Paramount Plus Originals for Latin America will feature new series from “The Hateful Eight’s” Demián Bichir, “Luis Miguel” lead Diego Boneta, and Brazilian online phenom Porta Dos Fundos.

Paramount Plus and ViacomCBS International Studios on Thursday also confirmed that their new slate of premium original content is set to premiere in Latin America, including Brazil, from early as third quarter 2021.

Expanding the streaming service’s vast global content lineup, the slate is produced by ViacomCBS’s global studio Vis, rolling off partnerships with a growing bevy of world-renowned content creators and producers.

Bichir, whose acting credits take in “Land,” “The Midnight Sky,” “Godzilla vs. Kong,” “The Hateful Eight,” and “A Better Life,” will star, executive produce and direct “Jg Ballard Adaptation” – a working title. It is written by novelist Juan Villoro and produced by Frida Torresblanco, an Academy Award winner for “Pan’s Labyrinth.” The limited...

Cannes — AMC Networks has secured distribution rights to two of Brazilian broadcast network Globo’s most notable series: “Jailers,” and the Brazilian version of “Supermax.”

“Jailers” will be available to stream on the Sundance Now service, while “Supermax” goes to Shudder in North America, U.K., Ireland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Sundance Now offers both original and exclusive series from any genre, and often features foreign-language content; Shudder is the world’s largest dedicated genre streaming platform dedicated to thriller, suspense and horror programing.

Winning a Grand Jury Award at 2017’s MipDrama screenings, “Jailers” has was an early sign of Globo’s energetic diversification into far shorter format renewable series which could appeal for their combination of tension and social relevance as much as the escapism of many traditional telenovelas. It also marked part of an ongoing alliance between Globo and Brazil’s top movie companies, being co-produced by Brazil’s Gullane and Spray Filmes.

Second edition of high-end drama showcase featured 12 upcoming shows.

Brazilian prison drama Jailers and Tom Tykwer’s ambitious detective tale Babylon Berlin, capturing the city in the Golden Twenties, clinched the grand jury awards in the full episode and work-in-progress categories at MIPDrama Screenings on Sunday.

Unfolding on the eve of Miptv, the second edition of the showcase put the spotlight on 12 upcoming drama shows, screening either full episodes or extracts as a work-in-progress.

“There is a lot of commercial pressure to do a certain type of drama series but what really struck me was the diversity and originality of all these shows… every one of them was very unique and defied simple expectations,” jury member Frank Spotnitz, creator of hit series such as The Man In The High Castle and Medici: Masters Of Florence, said.

Also on the jury were The Bridge producer Lars Blomgren, writer Virginie Brac (Cannabis, Spiral), director...

Second edition of high-end drama showcase featured 12 upcoming shows.

Brazilian prison drama Jailers and Tom Tykwer’s ambitious detective tale Babylon Berlin, capturing the city in the Golden Twenties, clinched the grand jury awards in the full episode and work-in-progress categories at MIPDrama Screenings on Sunday.

Unfolding on the eve of Miptv, the second edition of the showcase put the spotlight on 12 upcoming drama shows, screening either full episodes or extracts as a work-in-progress.

“There is a lot of commercial pressure to do a certain type of drama series but what really struck me was the diversity and originality of all these shows… every one of them was very unique and defied simple expectations,” jury member Frank Spotnitz, creator of hit series such as The Man In The High Castle and Medici: Masters Of Florence, said.

Also on the jury were The Bridge producer Lars Blomgren, writer Virginie Brac (Cannabis, Spiral), director...