A key driver in Brazil’s late 1990s cinema resurgence, Globo Filmes has co-produced iconic box office blockbusters, Oscar and “A” Fest plays, arthouse breakouts. movies sparking big TV spin-offs. A brief selection of milestones in its storied history:
1990
- President Fernando Collar’s government closes state owned film company Embrafilme, decimating Brazilian filmproduction.
1993
- A new Audiovisual Law offers companies income tax deductions for investment in Brazilian movies as Brazil’s Resurgence – economic and cultural recovery – lifts off.
1997
- Globo Filmes is founded. Recalls Daniel Filho, its guiding spirit, in early years: “I started working in Globo TV but I always said: “I want to make cinema.’ I was on my way to close a deal with exhibitor Luis Severiano Ribeiro to launch a film production house when I got a call from Globo to launch Globo Filmes. I agreed: Globo had to do what French and British channels were doing: Participate in films.”
December 1998
- Created under the artistic direction and guiding spirit of director Daniel Filho, Globo Filmes releases its first feature, “Simão, O Fantasma Trapalhão,” inspired by Oscar Wilde’s “The Canterville Ghost.” “Globo Filmes amplified and accelerated Brazilian cinema’s rebound,” says Globo Filmes head Simone Oliveira.
2000
- A spin-off from the four-part Globo TV series, Guel Arraes’ highly-rated “A Dog’s Will,” about two young scam artists in Brazil’s dirt-poor 1930s North-East, earns over $5.5 million in 12 weeks, a Resurgence box office record for Brazil’s cinema.
2001
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- Brazilian film agency Ancine launches.
2002
- Fernando Meirelles’ “City of God,” a Globo Filmes co-production, screens out of competition at Cannes and scores four 2004 Oscar nominations.
2003
- Hector Babenco’s “Carandiru” sells 4.6 million tickets in Brazil and plays in competition at Cannes.
2005
- Biopic “2 Sons of Francisco,” Brazil’s foreign-language Oscar entry, sells a record 5.3 million-plus admissions, taking Brazil’s No. 1 slot at the 2005 box office and beating all Hollywood blockbusters. Conspiraçao produced the hit.
- Acclaimed by PvNew as “a work of total cinema,” Andrucha Waddington’s “The House of Sand,” produced by Conspiraçao, is acquired for North America by Sony Pictures Classics.
2006
- Ancine’s Fundo Setorial do Audiovisual lifts, becoming Latin America’s biggest national film-TV fund, providing incentives across the value chain and focusing predominantly on art house movies.
2007
- Co-produced with Gullane, “The Year My Parents Went on Vacation” screens in the Berlin Film Festival’s main competition.
2008
- Brazil’s government approves a new audiovisual law: Article 3A of the law allows Globo Filmes to tap tax incentives investing in feature films.
2009
- “If I Were You” and sequel score 9.7 million viewers. proving the most successful Globo Filmes title from Daniel Filho, who directs a total 12 titles for Globo Filmes.
2010
- Sundance Fest-screened “Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within” tallies 11.3 million spectators, becoming Brazil’s biggest hit of the 2000s.
2012
- Globo Filmes’ blockbuster “The Invisible Woman” generates a free-to-air TV series, which wins the Intl. Emmy Award for comedy series, Brazil’s first.
2015
- Globo streaming service Globoplay launches, opening up a new co-funding source for GF titles, key during the pandemic and Bolsonaro government, says Oliveira.
- Anna Muylaert’s “The Second Mother,” produced by Gullane, takes a Sundance Special Jury Award for acting,won by Regina Casé and Camila Márdila.
2016
- Globo Filmes partners with Globo’s Canal Globo to produce kids and teen movies.
- Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “Aquarius” selected for Cannes competition.
2017
- Public hospital drama “Under Pressure,” from Conspiraçao, sparks a hugely successful five-season spinoff, which screened at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival.
2019
- “My Mom Is a Character 3,” starring Paulo Gustavo, sells 11.5 million tickets, becoming Globo Filmes’ biggest box office hit ever.
- Netflix releases its first Brazilian original feature, hit comedy “Airplane Mode.” “With the global streamers, we have to fight for a film, but a lot of times we win, not because of the money, but because of the marketing we can put into a film,” says Oliveira.
- Mendonça-Filho’s “Bacurau” wins the Cannes’ Grand Jury Prize.
2021
- Directed by Wagner Moura, “Marighella” screens out of competition at Berlin.
2023
- Produced with Biônica Filmes, “Toll,” from Carolina Markowicz, part of an exciting young generation of Brazilian women directors, bows at Toronto.
2024
- Directed by Susana Garcia, “My Sister and Me” tallies 2.2 million admissions, becoming Brazil’s highest-grossing post-pandemic movie.
- “Firebrand” helmer Karim Aïnouz hits the Cannes competition lineup again with “Motel Destino,” co-produced with Gullane, as Globo Filmes turns 25.
