Historical perspectives and new visions for the audiovisual sector fund: political statements and practices discursos e práticas políticas

Abstract

Brazilian cinema is part of a process of political, economic, symbolic and social continuities and ruptures. There is a historical pursuit of industrialization in almost all institutional policies for the sector in Brazil, with a focus on production. The Audiovisual Sector Fund (FSA) is part of a country’s socioeconomic project and a new concept of culture and cultural policy. The FSA was a political achievement for the sector, providing a volume of resources for audiovisual projects that were previously unprecedented and expanding the right to make cinema in Brazil. Thus, the creation of a sectoral fund for audiovisuals is part of a 'semi-reformism' and has provoked significant shifts and displacements in images, sounds, narratives, imaginaries, and disputes over the direction of public policy for cinema; but it has also perpetuated the focus on a certain industrialization model. This article will analyze, from a historical perspective, the advances, transformations, absences, and contradictions of the creation of the FSA and critically reflect on the future directions, limits, and possibilities of the sectoral fund based on new paradigms of cinema and audiovisual in Brazil.