Brazil may become a major player in the world’s audiovisual industry, said journalist and filmmaker Sérgio Henrique de Sá Leitão, whose appointment to the post of director of the National Movie Agency (Ancine) was approved last Tuesday (26) initially by the Committee on Education, Culture and Sports (CE) and then by the Plenary. In his speech to the committee, he recalled the example of the film Tropa de Elite (Elite Troup) - winner of the 2008 Berlin Festival Award – to illustrate the industry’s upside potential in Brazil.

- At this point, there are only a few developing countries which can aspire to be primarily  producers and exporters of  audiovisual content. For its considerable internal market and vast talent and creativity, Brazil is definitely one of these countries – said Leitão to the senators.

In his opinion, the success achieved by Tropa de Elite is a clear sign that Brazilian filmmaking can be competitive on a global scale.  He noted that in the first six weeks of 2008 Brazilian movies took more than 2.4 million spectators to the theatres. In contrast with the same period in 2007, it is an increase of one million people.

Leitão estimated that 150 new movie theatres will be opened in 2008. He also foresees good perspectives for the markets of DVD, private and public television, and for new markets, such as IPTV- movies for rent on the Internet – and cell phone television.
Ancine’s main role, in the opinion of its new director, is to stimulate and help the Brazilian market to reach its potential.

Digital convergence – interaction between different types of media- was defined by Leitão as the “great chance” for Brazil to reach a new level in the audiovisual industry. According to him, this market totals US$ 1.3 trillion a year, equaling Brazil’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Was this industry a country, he compared, it would be the tenth greatest economy in the world.