Facade of Cinemateca Brasileira, in São Paulo. Photo: Disclosure

Read the full letter released by APACI below and see here the page of the fundraising campaign for financial support to the workers of Cinemateca Brasileira.

Brazilian Cinematheque: Heritage of Society 

Isn't it cool to see images of Copacabana in the 50's? Admire the goals of
Pele or a dribble by Garrincha? Laugh with Oscarito and Grande Othello in a
Atlantis chanchada? Watch TV Tupi soap opera scenes with Hebe
Camargo still in black and white? Check out in the newsreels what the
Brazil in the 40s? Where do you think these records and others
thousands of movies and videos are saved?

The Cinemateca Brasileira is the largest audiovisual collection in South America.
South. The institution looks after more than 250 thousand rolls of films made
since the first filming in our country, more than 100 years ago. There
are also the collections of the extinct TV Tupi and Canal 100, the
productions by Vera Cruz and Atlântida and the collection of Glauber Rocha,
in addition to about 1 million documents including scripts, photos, books
and posters.

Worldwide, image files are treated like a treasure
precious. As if the cultural and historical value of the collection of
Cinemateca Brasileira, it is good to remember that it is also a
heritage of all Brazilians: films and newsreels are goods
valuables whose preservation is taken seriously.

The heritage of Cinemateca Brasileira goes beyond its precious
historical collection: includes a registered office and equipped with a
cinema, as well as equipment for maintenance, restoration and
film preservation. The Cinematheque is also a body of
dedicated employees, who made their careers there as technicians
of international excellence.

It is unbelievable that a heritage of this magnitude is about to
turning to gray due to the administrative incompetence of the entities
public that should care for it. According to the Roquete Foundation
Pinto, OS manager of Cinemateca, the Ministry of Education stopped
carry out the transfers due by contract, accumulating a debt of 13
millions. Employees are behind on salaries since
beginning of the pandemic, a tragic situation in itself. consumption accounts
are not being paid. If there is a power cut, we can
say goodbye to the history of Brazilian audiovisual: the most
Old ones are made of nitrate and will ignite when not
kept under refrigeration. An irrecoverable loss, since a
significant portion of the collection has no other copy than the
deposited in the Cinematheque.

Given the seriousness of the situation, the Paulista Association of Filmmakers
– APACI launched a manifesto “SOS Cinemateca” endorsed by more
of 70 national and international associations and, in collaboration with the
“Cinemateca Acesa” Movement, made the video manifest of which
Antonio Pitanga, Fernando Meirelles, Alessandra Negrini,
Kleber Mendonça Filho, Petra Costa, Marcelo Gomes, Cao Guimarães,
Bárbara Paz, Alessandra Negrini, Mariana Ximenes, João Miguel,
Fabricio Boliveira, Marcelo Machado, Tata Amaral, Fernando Alves Pinto,
Marina Person, Simone Spoladore, Fabiula Nascimento, Débora Brutuce,
Enrique Diaz, Gilda Nomacce, Sabrina Fidalgo, Guta Ruiz, Fernanda
Viacava and Lilian Santiago.

This campaign aims to raise awareness among the Public Power and Civil Society
for the emergency of the situation in which the Cinematheque finds itself and in
jointly create mechanisms to remedy this crisis immediately.

In the midst of ACERP's neglect and disrespect for its workers, and for the
lack of transfers of resources by the Federal Government to ACERP, the
Cinemateca workers also carry out a public campaign to
mitigate the effects of this situation that has no prospect of
resolve so far.

If you want to collaborate with financial support for workers in
Cinemateca Brasileira with delays in salaries and benefits and in
financial emergency, visit the site. To get in touch, send an email to workersdacb@gmail.com


Sign up for our newsletter

Leave a comment

Please write a comment
Please write your name