The roundtable "Audiovisual distribution and exhibition in Maranhão and Brazil: the role of technical and higher education institutions", which took place in the Auditorium of the Rectory of the Federal Institute of Maranhão (IFMA), on the evening of February 28, was attended by the manager of Institutional Relations with the Cultural Community of RNP, Alvaro Malaguti, as well as Rafaela Gonçalves (IEMA), Sâmia Oliveira (IFMA), Nayra Albuquerque (ZAWA Filmes), Danielle Costa (IFMA), to discuss the scenario of audiovisual distribution and exhibition in Maranhão and Brazil.

The initiative was promoted by IFMA, in partnership with the Black and Indigenous Audiovisual Forum of Maranhão (Fanim), APAN (Association of Black Audiovisual Professionals) and RNP.

For Álvaro, this type of meeting and debate is fundamental to fostering the growth of the network of audiovisual exhibition rooms in Brazil.
"We are in a country where the number of movie theaters is very small and this is reflected in the state of Maranhão. Of the 217 municipalities, only eight have movie theaters. The total number of theaters registered with Ancine is only 53, so the idea is for us to talk about the impact of this on production, circulation, exhibition and what contribution technical and higher education institutions can make to overcome this bottleneck", highlighted the Relationship Manager.

The employee of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Maranhão (IFMA), and also an audiovisual producer, Sâmia Oliveira, believes that “it is very important to debate the issue of distribution because it is a topic that is still little discussed in the entire national scope of cinema, even more so in Maranhão, where people are not even aware that cinema is produced here”, she highlighted.

According to Rafaela Gonçalves, audiovisual director at Matraca Filmes and a Film Technician at the Maranhão Film School, “we face several challenges, from the resources to produce the work to the distribution stage, so when we think about distributors, we think about movie theaters and multiplexes. And when we start to think about federal and state educational institutions, as well as distributors for character development, because cinema is just that, a creation of the world, it guides people with information, so it is very important to talk to these actors in these meetings to create this network,” the director stated.

IFMA professor Danielle Costa highlighted the current situation at the Institute: “I am very happy because I am observing a change in the Institute’s perspective regarding the arts. What I am seeing in this stance, especially from Rector Carlos Cesar, is that the same visibility is given to the arts as to engineering, and what is happening here today shows this relevance. Cinema is not discussed as just an entertainment component, but we are discussing it as a management component, an educational management, which recognizes the role of art, recognizes the role of accessibility to these artistic forms in an innovative and responsible way” – highlighted the professor.

For event participant, documentary filmmaker and photographer Luiza Fernandes, "this event is important because it brings information that professionalizes the market. Distribution is a very important step in the audiovisual chain, so this event contributed greatly to the professionalization of this market here in our state. And I am very happy to be honoring Rafaela Gonçalves and she is involved in relevant projects here in our state, black women, and it is super important that IFMA is bringing these inspiring women who carry a lot of power and creativity to the audiovisual sector in our state,” concluded the participant.

* With information from ASCOM of IFMA