27-05-2025
Rio2C, Latin America's Largest Creativity Event, Reaches Record Attendance as Rio de Janeiro Aims to Build as Brazil's Film and TV Capital
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL — Rio2C, Latin America's largest creativity event, will gather from May 27 to June 1 in its sixth in-person edition, boasting a record attendance of about 52,000 participants and 483 executives from 39 countries.
The continuous growth of the event, which this year has 'The Edge of Perfection' as its central theme, is a reflection of the strength of the film and TV and creative industry in Rio, believes Rafael Lazarini, CEO of Rio2C.
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The city is the headquarters of South America's largest broadcaster and telenovela producer, Grupo Globo, and traditionally the country's main center of indie film production – the birthplace of the 1960s and 1970s Cinema Novo movement of auteurs such as Glauber Rocha, Nelson Pereira dos Santos and Caca Diegues.
Tradition, the concentration of talents and the city's attractions, combined with government policies, paved the way for the building of a strong production sector in Rio. According to a study of Rio's City Hall, the features produced by Rio's companies accounted for 70% of the B.O. and 71% of the ticket sales in Brazil in the 1995 to 2024 period. Last year, according to the study, the share of Rio-produced pics rose to 90% of the total Brazil's B.O. and 88% of the total ticket sales, a trend that continued this year.
The strong theatrical performance of two pics contributed for the recent rise of Rio's B.O. and attendance share: Walter Salles' 'I'm Still Here,' this year's Best International Feature Film Oscar winner, was released in Brazil Nov. 7, 2024, and 'O Auto da Compadecida 2,' helmed by Guel Arraes and Flavia Lacerda, opened Dec. 25, 2024.
'We can draw a parallel with the U.S., where New York City is the big business and financial center, while L.A. is the world's capital of film and TV. In Brazil, Sao Paulo is the economic center and Rio concentrates the bulk of the creative industry. Rio is Brazil's L.A., the main center of film and TV production in our country,' Lazarini told Variety.
The Mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes, is expected to attend Rio2C 2025 to announce a package of incentives to Rio companies totalling 131 million reais ($23 million), of which the federal government will account for 100 million reais ($17.5 million) and City Hall with 31 million reais ($5.4 million). The coin will fund the production of pics and series, exhibitors, fests and training programs.
Mayor Paes told Variety that City Hall will also announce in Rio2C a Film Friendly Seal, which Rio's film agency RioFilme and the Rio Convention & Visitors Bureau will grant to reliable businesses in town that supply services and goods to international film and TV production.
City authorities are convinced the natural beauties of Rio, its lively culture and people's diversity make it an attractive location not only for Brazilian productions, but also for the ones of foreign companies.
Paes stressed to Variety that his administration created in 2022 a cash rebate to foreign producers lensing in Rio. The City reimburses international producers' of up to 35% of eligible expenses, according to the expected positive impact of the production on Rio's economy and image.
In parallel, RioFilme streamlined Rio's Film Commission which facilitates the production of films, series, TV shows – including telenovelas of TV Globo and TV Record – and ad commercials, helping producers to dodge bureaucracy and other obstacles.
Rio's Film Commission authorized a total of 8,782 lensing days in Rio in 2024, up from 7,885 in 2023 and 7,498 in 2022, according to RioFilme.
'We are one of the most filmed cities in the world. In 2023, we passed Paris and Mexico City in terms of total shooting days. In 2024, we had 505 productions here, of which 27 were foreign,' Paes told Variety. 'Rio's film and TV industry grossed 4.2 billion reais ($736 million) in 2023, up 68% in relation to 2019.'
Warner's 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,' produced by Legendary Pictures, and Universal's 'Fast X,' from the 'Fast & Furious' franchise, head the list of international productions lensed in Rio in recent years.
An obstacle for the expansion of the production sector in Rio, said Leonardo Edde, president director of RioFilme, was the lack of modern studios. TV Globo and TV Record have top-notch studios in Rio, but they are dedicated to the in-house production of the broadcasters' telenovelas and other shows.
Indie producers had to resort to Polo Rio Cine Video, a complex of seven studios built by City Hall by 1988, or to small studios spread around town or to go to São Paulo. Polo Rio was an important project, but it did not receive enough investment, public or private, for many years, and the studios were outdated.
'Due to the lack of legal certainty, private companies were not willing to invest in Polo Rio. Renting contracts were standard ones, and allowed the City to evict companies renting studios within 30 days of notice,' Edde told Variety. 'So Mayor Paes, as soon as he took office in 2021, put together a public bid to select a company to manage Polo Rio for 30 years.'
Sao Paulo-based studio and post-production group Quanta won the bid to the 30-year concession, which can be renewed for an additional 30 years. Marcelo Pedrazzi, a Quanta partner, told Variety they took over the administration of Polo Rio in July 2022 and have already invested in it about half of the 92 million reais (US$ 16 million) established in their concession agreement.
The first step was to construct a new state-or-art studio to house at the end of 2023 the production of Amazon Prime Time's 'O Auto da Compadecida 2,' made by Rio's Conspiracao and H2O. The pic's setting of Brazil's Northeast drylands was recreated in the studio, which hosted 98% of the lensing, said Pedrazzi.
Quanta has already constructed two other studios and renovated two old ones. It plans to have a total of 15 fully operational studios in Polo Rio by March 2026, he said.
'As Kevin Costner said in 'Field of Dreams', 'If you build it, he will come,' 'he' meaning the producers,' Pedrazzi told Variety. 'Sao Paulo leads in terms of advertising production. But, when it comes to entertainment, films and series, Rio is the largest market. Everybody wants to shoot in Rio.'
Rio's plans for the creative industry are ambitious. The Mayor has submitted to Rio's City Council a proposal for the creation of a Creative District in Barra, not far from Cidade das Artes, where Rio2C takes place.
Inspired by the Creative District in Madrid, the one in Rio will englobe a huge area that encompasses Globo's Burbank-like production complex, TV Record's studios, Polo Rio and other smaller studios, including the ones in the city's main convention center, Riocentro.
At the District's center, in a large area that hosted the bulk of the Rio's 2016 Summer Olympics' events, the idea is to build a theme park, a resort, the Olympics Museum, a tower with offices, an ice skating rink, a theater and an area to host the Rock in Rio music fest editions every two years.
As in Polo Rio, City Hall will select a private company to manage the complex for 30 years, the mayor said.
'Rio has a lot to profit from this project. The complex will generate 143,000 direct and indirect jobs in the 30 years of concession,' Paes told Variety.
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