Bolsonaro Dismisses President of National Cinema Agency Amid Internal Crisis

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro has removed Christian de Castro from the command of ANCINE, the National Cinema Agency, the body in charge of promoting film production in Brazil. The information was published in a special edition of the Federal Gazette on Friday night, August 30th.

According to the decree, the dismissal complies with a judicial decision rendered by the 5th Federal Criminal Court of Rio de Janeiro. It further instructs Alex Braga Muniz, member of ANCINE’s board, to replace Castro temporarily.

The decision seems to be related to a search and seizure warrant at ANCINE’s headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, issued at the end of last year by the same court. Osmar Terra, the Minister of Citizenship, in the same special edition of the Federal Gazette, dismissed four other public servants.

Marcos Tavolari, a lawyer, and Magno de Aguiar Maranhão Junior, an advisor to the president of ANCINE, were the targets of an investigation along with Castro. The operation has seized computers, hard drives, accounting books, and other items.

The decree further bans dismissed servants from accessing ANCINE’s premises and its computer networks.

However, this is not the only conundrum in which Christian de Castro has been involved in recent times. In March this year, an investigation conducted by the Federal Audit Court halted the transfer of public funds to the audiovisual sector, demanding that ANCINE reconsider the method used to audit the accounts of projects it approves.

At the time, the court granted sixty days for the agency to draw up a plan to re-examine the rendering of accounts.

Castro’s reaction was to publish an order freezing the agency’s activities, including the release of new funding for films and series. Filmmakers and agency staff criticized the fact that the decision had been taken without consulting the remaining directors.

A week ago, at a meeting of the Gramado Film Market, part of the Gramado Festival program in Rio Grande do Sul, Castro’s speech outraged the audience, composed of audiovisual industry professionals.

He named as an “invitation for dialogue” the recent suspension of an edict for public TVs, whose categories included sexual diversity and sexuality — the decision had been decreed by the Minister of Citizenship, Osmar Terra.

Other issues addressed by the former director also raised concerns in the audience, such as the suggestion to replace ANCINE’s current investment in projects by loans, in addition to spending more on companies and less on specific works.

The dismissal comes at a time of ongoing friction between the sector and the government, which seeks to establish greater control over ANCINE, which Bolsonaro decided to transfer to Brasília.

Last month, Bolsonaro said he intended to extinguish or privatize the agency should he be unable to implement a “content filter” — an intention regarded as censorship by professionals in the sector.

“I can’t allow public money to be used to make films like Bruna Surfistinha,” the president said at the 200-day celebration ceremony of the current government.