São Paulo – Brazil will seek closer ties with the United Arab Emirates in the audio-visual sector and envisions the possibility of an agreement with the country in the future. Steps in this direction were taken with participation of the National Cinema Agency (Ancine) in the 3rd Annual Investment Meeting, which took place in Dubai, in May. "It was a first step," said Rosana Alcantara, Ancine director, in an interview to ANBA.
At the meeting in Dubai, Ancine participated in the stand organized by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, with the help of the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex), to present the Brazilian productive chain. The initiative was part of the Greater Brazil Plan. Apart from participating in the 3rd Annual Investment Meeting, which includes a conference and trade show, organisation representatives also met with representatives of the Dubai Film and TV Commission and the Dubai Media City, in which topics discussed included the possibility of an agreement with Brazil in the audio-visual sector.
Nothing has yet been defined, and Alcantara believes that relations in the area in the region are a process to be built. The Dubai Film and TV Commission is an organization dedicated to attracting movie shooting to the Emirates and assisting these movie, television, advertising, and other audio-visual media productions. Dubai Media City is a kind of condominium for media companies that offers a number of benefits to those included, among them tax incentives.
According to Alcantara, in conversations with organizations, interest expressed was in learning more about Brazilian film production, which is copyrighted and independent, with the government participating in coordination of tax incentives and stimulating production. "They are interested in our culture and our form of organisation," said the Ancine director. "Their organisation culture is different from ours, and they have much concern about the state’s role as a facilitator in the process," says Alcantara.
In the Emirates, she reports, one of the references of national production is film "Stories that only exist when remembered", awarded best film at the Abu Dhabi Festival in 2011.The plot unfolds in Jutuomba, a city in Rio de Janeiro, when a photographer backpacks through the town and stays at the house of an old baker who is always remembering stories about her dead husband. Another Brazilian movie known there is “Elite Squad”, which focuses on violence and the role of the police in Rio de Janeiro.
Relations between the Brazilian audio-visual sector and that of the region, however, are far from what they are with other parts of the world, in which there are even co-productions of films. This year, for example, Ancine has already issued calls to tender with funds for film sets jointly produced with Portugal, Argentina, Italy and Uruguay. In these cases, producers from each country receive funding to run the project. Alcantara does not rule out this possibility in Eastern countries in the future, but recalls that this is a path that must first include a treaty between the countries, followed by other legal procedures.
This joint production work, said the director at Ancine, involves learning about a culture, a reality. For this to take place, she says, government efforts and encouragement are necessary, as well as proximity of productions between the countries involved. "We’re interested, but there must be progress," said Alcantara, regarding a relationship with the Emirates in the audio-visual area, recalling that for this process to evolve, reciprocal interest from the Arab country is also necessary.
*Translated by Mark Ament