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Delivery of funds for audiovisual has been paralyzed

August 14, 2020

Maribel Ramos-Weiner

Fernando García de Talents Guadalajara

Talents Latinoamérica, Memorias de un Territorio, held a debate on cultural policies in the pandemic. Fernando García, director of Talents Guadalajara, moderated the forum in which participants from several Latin American countries took part, who explained how the pandemic has affected the delivery of funds to finance film production. Although there are different situations, in general, almost everyone expressed paralyzation in the delivery of resources and continuous threats to the industry.

In the case of Bolivia and Honduras, new film laws were created in 2019 but in the light of the lack of regulations, that still haven’t been written because of the pandemic, there is no clarity as to how the delivery of funds will be handled. In Brazil, there has been a paralyzation because of changes in bureau officials that have been deemed an institutional shutdown, along with the certainty that that government has no interest in investing in culture.

In Chile, after the events in 2019 and later in the context of the pandemic, there is uncertainty regarding the delivery of funds, and although an emergency fund was created, there is still no clarity as to how it operates.

In Mexico, trusts were canceled, including those of cinema. After the reaction of the audiovisual community, there are talks about redirecting those resources to a single fund. The response in the vast majority of those countries has been a greater organization of the audiovisual community.

Watch the debate here