Co-Producing with Brazil

South Africa is currently in the process of signing a co-production treaty with Brazil, a lengthy process which commenced five years ago. On 20 July, in light of the impending agreement, South Africa's National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) and Ancine, the Brazilian National Cinema Agency presented a panel discussion titled Co-Producing with Brazil' at the 6th Durban FilmMart.

Facilitated by Elias Ribeiro, producer, director and founder of production company Urucu Media, the panel was made up of Brazilian producer, Andre Oliveira; NFVF representative, Terence Khumalo; head of international affairs at Ancine, Eduardo Novellie Valente; producer, distributor and curator of the Brazilian Focus section at the Durban International Film Festival, Carla Osorio.

Ribeiro started the conversation by asking Khumalo to share his insights as to why South Africa would like to co-produce with Brazil. Khumalo explained that when talks surrounding co-production with Brazil began at Cannes Film Festival five years ago, it was assumed that the treaty would be signed within one year. We were very na ve, five years down the line we have not yet signed but there have been a number of projects coming out of the two countries. This morning we had a closed session and what excited me most was that the producers are working outside the formal scope. Instead of waiting for the two governments to finalise the treaty they have gone ahead and co-produced, Khumalo commented.

Khumalo continued by explaining that South Africa sees Brazil as a strategic partner that could open doors to markets in other Portuguese-speaking countries and in the same way Brazil could utilise South Africa as an entry into the rest of the continent. We view this relationship very seriously and we see it working for both of us because of the similarities between the two countries and that will be reflected in some of the projects that are going to come out of the relationship, he said.

According to Khumalo, the co-production treaty between South Africa and Brazil is ready to be signed, as all diplomatic processes have been concluded.

Valente shared, from a Brazilian perspective, the value he sees in the co-production treaty with South Africa. Valente said that the similarities between South Africa and Brazil are many, not only culturally, ethnically and in terms of physical landscapes, but also in terms of both countries' historical struggles. In terms of not only immigration and colonialism from Africa to South America in one way, from South America to Africa in another way, within the context of European colonisation both ways, there are a lot of things that bind us, said Valente.

According to Valente South Africa has had a delegation in attendance at the Rio Content Market for the last three years, with 16 producers attending the most recent market. He clarified the reason for the delay in the signing of the treaty: From an audio-visual stand point we have finalised our discussions in terms of the treaty The text is ready, we have agreed on both sides on the contents. The only thing we are looking for is the moment. Because a co-production treaty between countries is not something that is signed between organisations such as the NFVF and Ancine, it is the signature of legislation between two countries.

Valente explained that there are ways for South African filmmakers to co-produce with Brazilian production companies outside of the treaty, What it would require is a project where it is very natural to have a co-production, to have it almost be a 50/50 endeavour. If you have that, from the Brazilian standpoint it's very possible to find public financing sources, to find possibilities to have it as an official Brazilian product, as well as South African, if you have the right composition of practical aspects.

Osorio mentioned that Brazil has the largest black population outside Africa: Africans have been present in Brazil for over 400 years. African presence has sustained our economic growth and left us enormous heritage that can be seen in our language, music and cuisine. Osorio said that within the audio-visual market, Brazilians are largely consumers of Hollywood content but she hopes to see a change in this consumer behaviour with the forthcoming signing of the co-production treaty with South Africa.

Olivier spoke more from a filmmaker's perspective saying that, for a country that has such an abundant black population he feels as though there isn't enough African cinema coming out of Brazil. Olivier concluded by saying that it's an exciting space in Brazil at the moment for international co-production because not only are filmmakers making their own efforts to expand Brazilian reach, there is also an intrinsic interest from the producers themselves to work with international counterparts.

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