In December, the project Cinemas em Rede disclosed the preliminary results from the Qualification Call  which aims to expand the access to audiovisual content to other exhibition places in the country, in order to form a national circuit.

The call received the registration of 123 interested institutions in total. Out of the total, 51% were Federal Higher Education Institutions (IFES), 36% were Federal Education, Science and Technology Institutions (IFs), and 13% from other institutions.

The most populous municipalities had higher representativeness in the research, 62% of the registered institutions were situated in municipalities with inhabitants between 100 thousand and more than 500 thousand. Furthermore, the regions with the highest number of registrations were Southeast (49) and Northeast (26).

According to the Relationship Manager of RNP  Álvaro Malaguti, about 45% of the registered institutions hold exhibitions regularly, and 26% of the exhibitors, who participated in the call, are situated in municipalities without commercial cinemas registered at the National Cinema Agency (Ancine). “The data demonstrates the effort and the interest of these institutions in offering cultural services and actions in their respective cities and regions”, Malaguti states.

As examples of municipalities with more than 100 thousand inhabitants without commercial cinemas, he mentions Santana (AP) and Trindade (GO). The two cities have exhibitors in federal education institutions, who participate in the Qualification Call.

In the municipalities with population between 50 and 100 thousand inhabitants, Ouro Preto and Mariana (MG), Registro (SP), Breve (PA), Viana and Nova Venécia (ES), Irecê (BA), Floriano (PI), Seropédica (RJ) and Itapetinga (BA) stand out - in none of them there are commercial cinemas, but there are exhibition spaces in federal institutions. 

The Qualification Call was released in November 2018 in partnership with the National Association of the Federal Higher Education Institutions Managers (Andifes), and received proposals until March 2019. A Web platform was developed for this survey, through which the exhibitors could register and provide information about their activities and working conditions.

At the end of the Call, the provided information will be analyzed and spread out by means of a digital and printed publication, with the cartography of the exhibitors of the education, science and culture institutions, which use RNP. Disclosure of the final result from the Qualification Call is scheduled to March 2020.

Project discloses balance in 2019

Cinemas em Rede closed 2019 with total audience of 977 spectators, who participated in free and open sessions for students and the general population. Altogether, there were eight joint sessions held at universities that belong to the circuit, followed by interactive debates with directors and promoters, broadcast live.

In the first half this year, the program was dedicated to the women including works by Brazilian female directors. With the theme “Women, who do in cinema”, the project coordination exhibited the movies “Baroness”, “I travel because I exist, I return because I love you”, “Lost Paradise” and “The wolf behind the door”. Together, the four movies were the most watched of the year, gathering 635 spectators, with 160 people per session average.

In the second half-year, between August and November, the program included four other movies, "The part of the world that belongs to me", "Beyond the mirror", "Elections", and "Female noun".
Because of the success of the project, the initiative has aroused the distributors´ interest to show their movies in this circuit of university cinemas. This was the case of Olhar Distribuição, which provided the movies “The part of the world that belongs to me” and “Elections”. “For us, the project promotes a highly qualified space, with debates for an audience that specialized in cinema. It is not just a display screen anymore, but a space for exchange as well”, the person responsible for acquisitions and projects at Olhar Distribuição, Paula Gomes evaluates.

Throughout 2019, another important delivery for the expansion of the project was UHD Player, a portable digital content displayer that enables 4k video reproduction with very high-quality digital audio. The device will be responsible for cost reduction, logistics facility and greater simplicity of installation and maintenance in the audiovisual content displaying processes.

The technology was one of the highlights at the meeting held on 8/26 in Brasília,with representatives from nine movie theaters members of the project.

Learn more about this initiative on the project site.