Globo Filmes’ Storied History: Key Milestones Over Its First 25 Years
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
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President Fernando Collar’s government closes state owned film company Embrafilme, decimating Brazilian film production.
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
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 Variety 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.
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