The Bolsonaro government aims to end the financing of the country’s film business. The Folha de S. Paulo newspaper noted that the draft budget plan 2023, sent this week to Congress, excludes Condecine. The tax is what supports the production of Brazilian cinema.
Collected by the telephone and audiovisual industry, Condecine literally means Contribution to the development of the national film industry. By law, audiovisual companies have their profits taxed to help produce new content and thereby grow the entire industry, serving as both promotion and regulation.
The money raised is what feeds the FSA (Sectoral Audiovisual Fund), managed by Ancine (National Cinema Agency) to finance the productions of Brazilian films, series and games. It is not income tax money or funds from other segments, such as health and education. This is a tax that is levied only on companies that earn from audiovisual production, through cinema, pay TV and other services. In the FSA, this money guarantees investments in new projects from different manufacturers and niches.
“All the diversity of Brazilian culture can be recorded in the audiovisual precisely because we have money in the fund,” Vera Zaverucha, an industry expert and former director of Ancine, told Folha.
“Extinguishing Condecine puts an end to cinema in Brazil, especially that which is produced by independent production companies,” he added.
Director André Sturm, director of the Petra Belas Artes cinema in Sao Paulo, told Folha he was “shocked” and hoped it was “a mistake, because it means disrupting the functioning of the Brazilian audiovisual media”.
Producer Manoel Rangel, former director-president of Ancine, adds that the proposal “is yet another irresponsibility of the Bolsonaro government with public finances, Brazilian culture and audiovisual production” and “a madness of technocrats lobbying some companies”.
Accusation: “A government that has only three months more in office does not have the right to change something that has been built in years of public action in the country for the development of the audiovisual”.
Debora Ivanov, from Gullane, one of the country’s largest producers, points to the chaos that will come with the end of Condecine. “You are responsible for the entire production chain, generating thousands of jobs, expanding our presence in pay TV channels, winning awards and markets around the world, as well as contributing to the growth of the economy.”
The end of Condecine could in fact create the greatest crisis ever faced by national cinema, even worse than the implosion linked to the end of Embrafilme and Concine decreed by Fernando Collor, another right-wing president. In 1992, the last year of the Collor government, only three Brazilian films hit screens, as a direct result of his actions.
There have been initiatives such as the Audiovisual Act, Condecine and the FSA, created in the governments of Itamar Franco, Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Lula, in a common understanding of the needs of the audiovisual industry, which have enabled the so-called Recovery of the sector to grow the number of cinemas and box offices in Brazil.
Bolsonaro had already completely vetoed the project to extend the Audiovisual Law. He also vetoed Recine, which encouraged the creation of new cinemas, as well as various promotion laws, such as the Paulo Gustavo law. He also won the film quota policy and banned state support for films and industry events. All this in full pandemic, in a frontal attack on the economy.
To justify his plan of destruction, Bolsonaro even claimed that Brazil doesn’t make good films. “It’s been a long time since we last made a good movie, hasn’t it?” He said of the domestic industry at a 2019 live – ignoring, for a change, all awards at international festivals that contradict the distortion. .
His previous vetoes, however, have been overturned in Congress, where the 2023 budget will be discussed.
Artists and trade associations must react strongly to the measure and press for a new veto.
Source: Terra
Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.
