Panel SA: Brazilian film at the Oscars receives little money and campaign remains threatened

Minas Gerais filmmaker Gabriel Martins is trying to keep the campaign for “Mars Um”, the film that represents Brazil at the Oscars, on its feet. In the US to publicize it, he says that the support of R$ 200,000 given by Ancine, the audiovisual agency, is the same as four years ago — outdated because the real devalued against the dollar.

If “Marte Um” —which tells the story and conflicts of a black family on the outskirts of Contagem (MG)— is pre-selected on the award shortlist, announced at the end of the month, the director says he will need to seek out more funding to maintain campaign expenses.

“If we want to be competitive and make noise, unfortunately it’s really with money”, says Martins.

Has the scarcity of resources for culture affected the “Mars One” Oscar campaign? We managed —through the efforts of our production company and supporters— to meet the goal of this moment in the campaign to make some noise here [nos EUA]🇧🇷 We pay everything in dollars and it ends up being expensive. On December 21, the shortlist will be released, comprising 15 films from 92 countries that will advance to the next stage. If “Mars One” is one of those films, a new process begins to get more funding.

Ancine supported the campaign with R$ 200,000, the same amount practiced four or five years ago. The dollar is not the same, so it is an outdated value. In practice, it does not include all expenses. If we want to be competitive and make noise, unfortunately it’s with money. It’s expensive to do sessions here in the US.

“Mars Um” was financed by the first and last call for feature films directed by black people. From a financial point of view, has making movies become more difficult in recent years for small directors? This was the only announcement [do gênero]but at that moment [em 2016], the application of quotas and actions aimed more at the democratization of this access were also being effective. But we saw it, more or less at the same time, with the entry of [ex-presidente Michel] Temer, these policies disappearing until they are extinguished in the Bolsonaro government. They were blocked and Brazilian cinema, breathing through devices.

This has a very strong impact on youth, because we have to think that there was a new group arriving, producing short films, doing various projects. When these people start to be interested in making feature films, logically the necessary contribution is greater. And when that doesn’t exist, we throw this new group into limbo.

Did the lack of government notices for culture affect any of your projects?It’s curious, because my last feature film project was “Mars One”. Since then, I’ve had scripts and projects, but, in the absence of public notices, I couldn’t make them viable. We tried to make contact with private channels to raise a next project, but, with the pandemic, that became more difficult.

In Brazil, we can think of streamings [como Netflix] and production companies that maybe have some reallocated money that they can invest. We have even opened conversations with this sector, but it is not always obvious what will happen. It’s not overnight. And the streamings and Globo Filmes will not be able to support all the projects. Hence the importance of publications.

What are the expectations for the performance of the next government in culture?In my opinion, the priority is to understand what was left behind. If we want a cinema that is public, the focus is to give it an effectively diverse face and think about who, in the body of artists, is disadvantaged. Think, for example, how to come back with regional arrangements, which were a policy of the Dilma and Lula administrations. This caused the money to circulate beyond the Rio-São Paulo market.

We have statistics proving how the laws Aldir Blanc and Paulo Gustavo [de incentivo à produção] can be effective. And Ancine [com seus editais] this center is necessary for Brazilian cinema to be able to produce.

Speaking about diversity, the Rouanet Law, for example, already concentrated fundraising in the Southeast during PT governments. How to distribute the money beyond that region?There is still a very murky understanding of how it could be effective. Cinema is different from a big show in which the brand [o patrocinador] be more visible. Cinema still experiences a series of distribution difficulties. The operation of the Rouanet Law is not such an obvious path, because this capture is very difficult. This is historic in Brazil.

There are things that can be done. First, a transparency project to bring the arts closer to the public. Many people do not understand why it is important to invest money in culture and, therefore, that [esse setor] has been so attacked in recent years.

All of this also involves investors, who could be more present and closer to fundraising so that even the artists themselves can better understand [esse processo]🇧🇷 Today, a young person leaving college has no idea how to capture in a project. And, at the same time, it has the importance of funds, which are direct government incentives that do not require the mediation of a company.

X-ray

Gabriel Martins

Age: 34 years old

Career: Born and raised in Contagem (MG), he founded the production company Filmes de Plástico, in 2009, with three other friends. “Mars One”, released this year, is his second feature film, but the first he directs himself. The film was chosen to represent Brazil at the Oscars.