Dictatorship returning to Brazil, it appears, film projects stuck for funding: Filmmaker

It appears that dictatorship is coming to Brazil once again, according to Brazilian filmmaker Gustavo Galvao, who has also said that independent films which do not match the incumbent government's ideology are not funded anymore.

Galvao also said that between 700 to 800 film projects are stuck in the bureaucratic mire of government funding, adding that while the censorship in Brazil is not direct, it was a difficult time to be a filmmaker in Brazil.

Galvao was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the ongoing 51st edition of the International Film Festival of India which hosted the Asia premiere of his film 'We Still have the Deep Black Night'.

"We are facing a very difficult moment in Brazil. We don't face censorship directly, but we have been through the process... In Latin America, in general, you cannot source private money for independent production. You need public funding," Galvao said.

"So this government, they expressed very clearly since they won, that they would not finance films that they don't agree with ideologically. They can do that. But they can't shut the system that gives us money to shoot," he added.

Galvao said that he was not the only one suffering from the censorship through curtailed funding.

"Between 700 and 800 (film) projects are now stuck in Brazil. It was tough even before the pandemic. Then came the pandemic and of course no one is shooting and we are in a desperate situation," Galvao said.

Galvao also said that Brazil had witnessed dictatorship in the three decades spanning 1960s to 1980s, but adds that while politicians come and go, art is permanent.

"But we are here. Facing difficulties, but still creating, still writing... It is about that. How to resist, how to keep fighting, keep creating, keep producing. It happens all the time.

Politicians come and go. Art is still there," he said.

Tags: Cinema, Showbiz, Politics