The Ministry of Culture (MinC) works to put an air in 2025 a streaming public. At the same time, it is fighting for the regulation of digital platforms aimed at providing on -demand video (VOD) to advance this year.
The theme is one of the main subjects that have been explored by MinC’s Audiovisual Secretariat (SAV) representatives, along the Tiradentes Film Festival. Organized by Universe Production, the event reaches its 28th edition and is one of the main film festivals in the country.
The show began on January 24 and runs until next Saturday (1/2). The program has 140 films, as well as debates, showsworkshops, book launches and other activities.
It also includes the holding of the Tiradentes Forum, an event that brings together dozens of industry professionals for a diagnosis of Brazilian audiovisual to formulate proposals to MinC. Debates take place at different tables and working groups, with the participation of government representatives. In the end, a letter will be approved by listing the main guidelines and demands of the sector.
“It is urgent that we resolve this year the regulation of Vod,” said the national secretary of audiovisual, Joelma Gonzaga at the opening table.
One of the main issues, she said, is to ensure the protection of the national content. In other words, it means that platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney + and HBO Max would have to ensure in the Brazilian public available for the Brazilian public a minimum percentage of national productions.
Another debate involves the protection of heritage law. The idea is that regulation sets the parameters on how the economic gains of commercial exploitation of an audiovisual product should be shared between the producer and the platform.
“These are rights that have already been guaranteed throughout the history of our public policies. If we extend this to the platforms, we will be defending our independent production. We will be defending sovereignty,” says Joelma.
Issues involving taxation and guarantee that local production has prominence in catalogs are also part of the package of measures that is on the agenda.
All of these discussions need to go through the National Congress, who is responsible for approving a regulatory framework for digital platforms. There are currently two bills that deal with the subject in process. MinC’s proposal is to advance the joints so that a single text is voted.
The audiovisual secretary considers that the moment of Brazilian cinema favors the debate. “I have spoken of the importance of Three Oscar Indications conquered by I’m still here. And we are also with 13 Brazilian films selected for Berlin Festival that is one of the biggest festivals in the world, one of the most prestigious. And here are 141 films that will pass through the Tiradentes show. It’s too much to celebrate. “
According to her, they are not unprecedented measures in the world. “None of the countries considered great powers of the audiovisual industry has come to this place without defending its national production. France, South Korea, the United States itself, finally, all have protection mechanism for its intellectual property. People protect this, there is a chain reaction. We are boosting the economy, our producers. “
Public streaming
MINC also promises to air a platform of streaming public, with free availability of a set of audiovisual productions. The objective is to expand the access and the diffusion of national cinema and contribute to the formation of public.
Some details were presented last Saturday (25) by SAV’s Preservation and Audiovisual Diffusion Director, Daniela Santana Fernandes. The project is being developed in partnership with the Center for Excellence in Social Technologies of the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL): “It’s already a reality. We have done focal group, we have already done some tests,” said Daniela.
According to her, in the second half of last year, a notice for licensing of short and feature films was also launched. About 1,600 registrations were received and the result should be released soon.
“We needed works beyond those that the federal government already have a right. [Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional] and the Palmares Foundation. Has Funarte’s collection [Fundação Nacional de Artes]. All of these will compose the streaming. But we want contemporary production to be represented also, “he explained.
Daniela said the name of the platform cannot yet be revealed. She also stated that, in parallel to its development, the regulation of Federal Law 13.006/2024. Approved last year, she established the screening of national production films as a complementary curriculum component: schools will need to display monthly to students at least two hours.
THE streaming public should also turn to this end. “It’s our commitment. After all, how would we regulate legislation without making a tool for schools to make these exhibitions?”
International debate
The regulatory debate has also been promoted by Brazil in international forums. Last year, the country hosted the G20 meetings, which brings together the 19 largest economies in the world, as well as the European Union and more recently the African Union. The group has consolidated itself as a global forum for dialogue and coordination on economic, social, development and international cooperation topics.
A statement specific about cultural policies It has been approved by the G20, including a recognition that regulations in cultural content licensing services and streaming platforms “can be adapted to the specific conditions of the market and sociocultural and economic contexts specific to countries.”
Joelma says it was not a simple discussion, as there was opposition from the United States, which houses the headquarters of most platforms:
“We stayed until 3 am. The United States did everything to remove the agenda from the statement. They used the most varied arguments. And this was a proposition of Brazil. The European Union, India, China, was everyone defending to Proposal from Brazil. We won.
The urgency of regulating digital platforms has been cited in Raquel Hallak’s speechGeneral Coordinator of the Tiradentes Show, at the opening ceremony of the event. Joelma also highlights the intervention of the indigenous federal deputy Célia Xacriabá (PSOL). At the ceremony, the parliamentarian participated in an artistic performance that explored the theme of sustainability.
“She said something very interesting that we all know and agreed: Audiovisual is the big weapon of the 21st century. I was very thrilled when she talks about reforestation the cinema and turning the cinema into a forest,” said Joelma, highlighting the importance of if you advance the regulation and creation of mechanisms that reinforce democracy in audiovisual.
Technology Giants
This Tuesday (28), in a new table debate that dealt with the theme, the director of the National Film Agency (Ancine), Paulo Alcoforado, stressed that the regulation of VOD is one of the faces of the regulation of the internet.
He also points out as a challenge to advance regulation on other fronts involving, for example, artificial intelligence, the remuneration of journalism content on social networks, the fight against misinformation, the bets onlineamong others.
“We are dealing with a world where there are technology giants, which have their assets much more valued than any other companies in the world, which work on a global scale, with a very intensive and much investment capital. National companies compete with these services, whose central business is indiscriminate access to user data. and from the moment they access user data, they can create new businesses, “he says.
According to Alcoforado, it is up to the state to act to balance the game facing mainly economic concentration. The concerns are shared by researcher Pedro Butcher. He notes that we live today in a new regime of circulation of information, organized from a search for monetization from the data. In this scenario, large technology companies bring together more personal data than national company and the state itself.
“There is a giant asymmetry. And this is where regulation needs to act. It needs to try to reduce this asymmetry.” Butcher disputes the way platform owners defend freedom of expression.
“It is actually the defense of a very specific channeling of information. The difference in the viralization between true and false posts is very distinct. The structure of the circulation of information favors the circulation of false information. What we see is an industrial technical complex that instituted a model that favors the manipulation and control of the truth. lobby Against regulation is heavy. It is an unprecedented economic power, “he adds.
