4th June 2025

The Brazilian film industry stands at a pivotal crossroads. While our content is capturing global attention—especially after Walter Salles' Oscar win for the moving "Ainda Estou Aqui"—the reality on home turf reveals a more complex narrative. I witnessed this contradiction firsthand at Rio2C 2025, where record-breaking attendance masked an industry quietly struggling for breath.

The Deceptive Calm Before the Storm

The plane to Rio carried an unusual emptiness. Isabel and I settled into seats that should have been surrounded by filmmakers buzzing with anticipation for Rio2C at Cidade das Artes. Last year, you couldn't breathe without inhaling someone's pitch. This time, we enjoyed a peaceful flight over the beautiful clouds gathering above Rio de Janeiro, the city below bathed in majestic winter light.

Unlike previous years, when this trip doubled as a brief escape from our teenage kids, this time we carried real pitches in our briefcases and had meetings lined up with genuinely interested players, eager to hear about our new slate of feature projects.

HBO Max's Branding Crisis and Industry Impact

At check-in at the Windsor Marapendi, I bumped into a WBD executive—an ideal chance to quiz him, paparazzi-style, about HBO Max's branding flip-flop. Poor WBD rep, always caught off guard by me, but always gracious.

The rebrand has generated social media buzz and given HBO Max a chance to reconnect with its core audience. Still, this flip-flop exemplifies merger mismanagement, as industry analysts have detailed extensively. Off the record, content creators who parked their IP with the newly re-rebranded streamer feel abandoned. Many express frustration with overwhelmed executives and poor communication channels.

We can only thank our corporate overlords in California for finally deciding to embrace the cultural legacy they inherited, rather than continuing to fight it.

The Paradox of Success at Rio2C 2025

Rio2C officially boasted 55,000 attendees—a record that tells only half the story. But the vibe was a far cry from the exuberance of a decade ago. Now, just a tepid hush pervades the market, revealing the Brazilian film industry's underlying struggles.

Survival Stories from the Trenches

Over breakfast, a business development executive from a well-known production company told me he was grateful they had trickling business from filming a new season of a franchise reality show and adapting a US format for the Brazilian market. During a conference, Isabel spoke with an old school friend, a partner at a production company with 20 years in the market churning original series for streamers. The friend was terribly discouraged by the crushing effort required to sell and finance content production in Brazil, which generates only insignificant financial returns. So much so that he has opened a premium frozen cookies business on the side and will leave filmmaking altogether as soon as his new venture is more established.

That evening, I reconnected with an old colleague from my first years in Brazil. Despite his success—a multi-million-listener podcast series, directing for major streamers—he felt overworked. He questioned why years of experience weren't translating into better-paying gigs, especially with a family to support.

Of the five Uber rides we booked, two were driven by former audiovisual workers. One was a cameraman who had fallen on hard times, and another had been the administrator of a VFX studio in Rio.

Gullane's Perspective: Navigating the Streamer Dilemma

Panels on internationalization are a Rio2C staple, and Fabiano Gullane is always at the center. In 2023, as Brazil reopened post-COVID, Gullane and Andrea Barata Ribeiro (O2) raised alarms about streamers acquiring IPs wholesale, turning independent producers into hired labor. The long-debated "Regulamentação do VoD" (VoD regulation) remains unresolved in Brasília, having been under discussion since 2017.

This year, Gullane was more optimistic, reflecting on the global success of SENNA, Netflix's epic Ayrton Senna series. His argument was clear: raising $50 million locally and launching in 200 countries simultaneously would have been impossible without a global streamer. SENNA stayed in Netflix's top 10 for ten weeks, and Gullane took pride in securing Brazilian creative and crew participation.

The Profitability Challenge

Still, challenges persist. Portuguese-language IP faces barriers abroad. Of Gullane's 70 films, only 10 have been profitable according to the Brazilian producer. His current focus: curating distribution partners for optimal local launches, with festivals like the Marché du Film as crucial showcases.

Brazilian producers also face unpredictable state funding—arbitrary timing of funding calls, opaque results, potential lawsuits when results are announced, and heavy-handed financial oversight of government funding agencies. Brazil is still searching for its international breakthrough, as South Korea has achieved.

The Reality Behind the Carnival Mask

Leaving the event, I felt the contradiction. Rio2C 2025 was a carnival: impressive crowds, but fewer familiar faces; slick banners, but an industry gasping for air. Filmmakers juggle side gigs, pretending all is well as the system starves them out. With the market consolidating around a handful of streamers, fewer producers can take on risk. Meanwhile, new generations are exploring different entertainment, and AI is opening new creative frontiers.

Yet, the drive to create new narratives endures. Our pitching sessions were well received—and, thankfully, the commissioners we met weren't nine months into pregnancy (as has happened to us before...). We return home with alternative business ideas: frozen cookies, coffee roasting, bakery, online courses, Uber driving. In Brazil, politics, agriculture, and fintech seem to be the safest bets—perhaps easier routes to fund the next Brazilian Oscar campaign.

The Enduring Brazilian Spirit

Brazil isn't for beginners, but the ride is more exciting than I ever hoped. That's the fascination: Brazilians don't just survive—they persist, with good humor, because everything still needs building here; it remains, as Stefan Zweig envisioned, the country of the future. The industry may be struggling, but the creative spirit remains unbroken.

And I'm not done running with it. Don't be surprised if, in our next call, I'm driving an Uber and roasting coffee at the same time.

The author is the creator of Formula Dreams, currently streaming on HBO Max Latin America, and runs Story Productions, a leading production services company in Brazil. For more insights on the Brazilian film industry and international co-production opportunities, contact Story Productions.