City Hall releases R$131 million, in partnership with Ancine, for the audiovisual sector

Rio de Janeiro City Hall announced on Tuesday (28/01) the release of R$131 million for the audiovisual sector, during an event at the Palácio da Cidade, in Botafogo. RioFilme, a company linked to the Municipal Department of Culture, secured an investment of R$100 million from the Audiovisual Sector Fund, through a partnership with the National Cinema Agency (Ancine), for the calls for proposals scheduled for 2025. The city released R$31 million for the projects selected in 2024.

– We see audiovisual as an industry. Since the beginning of the previous term in 2021, we have sought to understand the importance and demonstrate the need for this industry for the city. We will provide all the conditions for the audiovisual industry to grow even more. We see this industry as a fundamental element, as one of the most important axes for the city’s economic development. We have to take advantage of this moment with the success of “I’m Still Here” to strengthen the audiovisual industry – stated Rio’s mayor, Eduardo Paes.

The 2025 RioFilme calls for proposals, which will already have R$100 million in funding from the partnership with Ancine, will be announced in April. The mayor of Rio also assured that this amount will be added to the investments that the city will still announce.

– This is a great announcement together with Ancine, which signed a resolution that we needed to use the R$100 million from the Audiovisual Sector Fund. From now on, we can work on our 2025 calls for proposals. This is an unprecedented resource. One of our commitments is to attract new investments to Rio. It means having the guarantee of investments from the city government, but also seeking options to multiply investments in the city of Rio – said the president of RioFilme, Leonardo Edde.

President of Ancine, Alex Braga celebrated the partnership with the City of Rio to promote audiovisual production in Rio. He highlighted that the city is the capital of film production in the country.

– The home of Brazilian cinema is Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian cinema is the result of an industry of creation and innovation, and as a result, Rio is the right place, the engine for the growth of this activity. From Rio we reach other cities, and from the state of Rio we reach all of Brazil. Today we are celebrating this partnership to promote audiovisual production in Rio, the city that consumes the most audiovisual products.

Another event celebrated was the signing of two decrees to make Rio even more attractive for audiovisual productions. After the documents are regulated, one of the advances will be the creation of a table to price municipal public equipment that will be used as film sets, an initiative that will offer greater budget predictability to producers.

Massive investment

Since 2021, the City of Rio has made the largest investment in Rio's audiovisual sector in history. More than R$139 million has been distributed across different areas, potentially attracting more than R$431 million to the city. If the amounts invested by the City are added to the amounts potentially attracted to the city, the total amount for Rio de Janeiro's economy comes to more than R$571 million, coming from the audiovisual industry.

These invested amounts, which in 2023 included resources from the Paulo Gustavo Law, leveraged 417 projects, including films, street cinemas, film clubs, festivals and training courses in the outskirts, through local actions that occupy territories of greater social vulnerability.

During the previous administration, between 2021 and 2024, Rio became one of the most filmed cities in the world. According to data from the Rio Film Commission, in 2023 Rio surpassed Paris in the number of authorized filming days: there were 7.885 filming days, which means that every day at least 21 filming sets were working on the city's streets, beaches, parks and squares, bringing Rio to the screens of Brazil and the world. The French capital authorized 7.400 filming days in 2023.

In 2024, the results were even more positive, Rio was the setting for 8.782 filming days, from 505 productions. Of this total, 27 were international productions, which chose Rio as the setting for 748 filming days, which represents almost 10% of the total filming done in the city.

– Rio is the setting and the protagonist. The audiovisual industry is the tenth largest in the city. A low-carbon industry, without a smokestack, as we usually say. And the audiovisual industry fosters other types of art. It is a complex industry that employs, distributes income and brings investment to the city. What is produced in Rio has repercussions around the world. Rio is responsible for more than 70% of the Brazilian audiovisual market. Rio is watched, produced, distributed and is the face of Brazil in the world because of the audiovisual. That is why the support from the City Hall is important – declared the Secretary of Culture, Lucas Padilha.

Investments in audiovisual guarantee income and democratization of culture 

Data from RioFilme shows that almost five thousand jobs were created in the technical area and almost seven thousand among actors and extras, which reveals that this investment directly generated almost 12 thousand jobs, not to mention the economy indirectly boosted in the neighborhoods and streets with the crews working in the surrounding area. In addition, RioFilme's public notices launched or supported more than 70 professional training courses in the audiovisual area, enabling 386 students to qualify and enter the job market.

Regarding affirmative action policies for the democratization of resources invested by the City Hall, Riofilme reported that, based on its additional points policy, the majority of approved proposals were led by women, black people and residents of areas of greater social vulnerability in the city, in our zones with the lowest HDI.

The City Hall's audiovisual development program also facilitated the democratization of the population's access to audiovisual content. Through Riofilme's actions, seven street cinemas in Rio were renovated, reopened and modernized.

In 2023, using resources from the Paulo Gustavo Law, through the Viva o Cinema de Rua! public notice launched by the Department of Culture, via RioFilme, screening rooms are being renovated and reopened in the North, Center and South Zones. Among them are CineCarioca Nova Brasília, in Complexo do Alemão, Ponto Cine de Guadalupe, Cine Santa, in Santa Teresa, and CineCarioca Penha, which had been closed since 2006.

In addition, the MAM Cinematheque screening room and the Estação Group movie theaters were also renovated. Last December, Rio residents gained a new movie theater in Laranjeiras: the CineCarioca José Wilker was reopened, with two rooms equipped with the most modern projection equipment on the market and all accessibility features.

Category:

• Culture
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• RioFilme

January 28, 2025

Appointments: Ancine Visual Media Culture edicts investment the partnership City Hall of Rio RioFilme