Brazil and Portugal discuss audio-visual cooperation

Culture Minister Sérgio Sá Leitão and the president of the Portuguese Institute of Cinema and Audio-visual Productions (ICA), Luís Chaby, held a meeting this Tuesday (9 December) to discuss opportunities for cultural cooperation between Brazil and Portugal in audio-visual projects. Among the topics discussed was the resumption of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP) Audio-visual Programme, aimed at producing audio-visual content through a collaborative network of Portuguese-speaking countries.

Another theme in the agenda was the creation of a film festival that brings together film productions from both countries. "A week-long festival that could be held in two cities in each country, with exhibitions in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon and Porto, for instance. Ideally, it could be privately run, but with Brazil and Portugal leading the event. It is a way of giving practical meaning to this integration between our two countries," said Sá Leitão. The festival is expected to be held later this year. 

According to the minister, Brazil already has successful examples of international festivals that traditionally take place in the country. "The Varilux French Film Festival, which began in a few cities, has today spread to many other locations in Brazil and is a major part of our calendar of national film festivals," he said.

According to Chaby, the meeting raised positive ideas that could be implemented in the near future. "For us, it was a very fruitful meeting, in which we had the opportunity to talk about developing shared projects between Brazil and Portugal, not only involving our countries, but also other Ibero-American countries. I have no doubt this meeting with Minister Sá Leitão will yield good results, new ideas, good projects," he praised.

Also in attendance at the meeting were Paula Alves, from the Cultural Department of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; João Batista Silva, Audio-visual Secretary of the Brazilian Ministry of Culture (MinC); and Adam Muniz, Director of the MinC Department of International Promotion.

About CPLP Audio-visual

The CPLP Audio-visual Programme is an initiative to promote the production and dissemination of audio-visual content among the members of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP). Former initiatives include the DOCTC CPLP, a set of government-sponsored tenders aimed at encouraging the production of documentaries, and the FICTV CPLP, focused on works of fiction. The initiatives supported the production of one documentary and one fiction film in each of the CPLP countries.