* Brazil's film industry boosted by public investment

* Streaming services drive growth in Brazilian film and

TV exports

* Brazilian cinema professionals increasingly present in

Hollywood circles

By Manuela Andreoni and Isabel Teles

SAO PAULO, March 14 (Reuters) - Millions of Brazilians

are expected to watch as movie stars enter the Dolby Theatre for

the Oscars ceremony this Sunday, hoping to witness one of their

own strike gold for the second year in a row.

Brazil's "The Secret Agent" has earned four Academy Award

nominations, including the first-ever nod to a Brazilian for

best actor for Wagner Moura, who won the Golden Globe for best

actor in a drama this season. The recognition comes one year

after "I'm Still Here" won the country's first-ever Oscar

for best international feature film, sparking pride and

excitement in the nation of 213 million.

This year, Brazilian cinematographer Adolpho Veloso is

nominated for his work on "Train Dreams."

Interviews with a dozen directors, producers, executives and

analysts show that two decades of government investment,

including a record $267 million from the national cinema agency

Ancine last year, have helped Brazil boost the number of feature

films it produces, increase international partnerships, and take

advantage of the influx of cash from streaming services looking

to grow subscribers.

But, with budget priorities shifting and a looming election

that could bring back conservatives skeptical of cinema funding,

many in the industry fear that government support may not last.

Still, exports of Brazilian audiovisual services grew 19% a

year between 2017 and 2023, when they reached $507 million,

according to a study commissioned by its Motion Picture

Association. Some hope Brazil's movie industry could follow

global entertainment players like South Korea, which exports

billions of dollars a year in content, partly because of

substantial government support.

The industry's Oscar moment spotlights a "perfect storm" of

maturity, talent and great stories, said Josephine Bourgois,

executive director at Projeto Paradiso, a nonprofit that

supports bringing Brazilian cinema to global audiences.

"Beyond its pop appeal, the country is also showing it is a

viable partner," she said. "Brazil is a place you can work with,

a place where you can do business."

FROM COOL TO BUSINESS SAVVY

Brazil's tropical cool and captivating rhythms have long piqued

the interest of foreign audiences, as with 1960 Oscar winner

"Black Orpheus," set in Rio de Janeiro but produced by France.

Brazil's popularity has often been undercut by its image as

a tough place to do business, with abrupt policy changes,

currency volatility and faulty infrastructure.

In the late 1990s, Brazil seemed to start breaking that

image with an extraordinary run at the Oscars, when director

Walter Salles, whose stake in his family's bank made him one of

the richest men in Hollywood, came close to making history with

"Central Station."

The film was nominated for best foreign film, as the

category was then called, and star Fernanda Montenegro became

the first Brazilian nominated for best actress. Last year,

Salles got a new chance with "I'm Still Here" and took home the

Oscar for best international film. Montenegro's daughter,

Fernanda Torres, was nominated for best actress.

In the early 2000s, Brazil's current policy of subsidizing

the arts returned in what the industry calls its "comeback

moment." Production houses multiplied, and directors, actors,

and other professionals from Brazil became increasingly present

in Hollywood.

Award success bred business success. After "City of God," a

Brazilian hit nominated for four Oscars in 2004, director

Fernando Meirelles attracted projects to his production company

O2, including the 2008 film "Blindness," featuring Julianne

Moore and Mark Ruffalo.

"It sparks an interest, conversations," said Andrea Barata

Ribeiro, a founding partner at O2.

What really helps, though, several producers said, is

government incentives.

Kleber Mendonca Filho, who directed "The Secret Agent," said

much of his work depended on government funding. His first

feature, "Neighboring Sounds," received funds for projects

outside Brazil's richer southeastern states. The early

screenplay work on "The Secret Agent" was partially financed by

a government program that ended under far-right President Jair

Bolsonaro.

"Today my name is well-established, but people forget that I

started with a film that came from an affirmative (action)

funding program," Mendonca Filho said.

Filmmakers aim to keep the momentum. This year, Brazil took a

record 10 productions to Germany's Berlinale, one of the world's

most prestigious film festivals. "Gugu's World," which follows a

boy and his increasingly frail grandmother, won two awards

outside the main competition.

STREAMING BOOM

Progress made in the early 2000s laid the groundwork for an

industry that is now expanding as it rides the global

streaming boom.

Monica Pimentel, vice president of content at Warner Bros

Discovery Brazil, said that some 15 years ago, it was a

challenge to find production companies to develop some shows

because the market was too small.

"Today I see how these production companies are extremely

qualified," she said.

Executives say the main motive guiding investment from

multinational companies, such as Netflix ( NFLX ), Warner and Amazon, is

to lure Brazil's domestic TV audience, including with soap

operas, as HBO did with local sensation "Scars of Beauty." But

that can also spawn global crossovers.

Netflix ( NFLX ) reported global views of Brazilian content grew 60%

in the second half of 2025.Productions included "Rulers of

Fortune," a show about Rio de Janeiro's illegal gamblingmafia,

and "Caramelo," a 2025 film about the friendship between a chef

and a caramel-colored mutt, that was among Netflix's ( NFLX ) 10

most-watched films for eight weeks, with almost 50 million

views.

"Brazil is among Netflix's ( NFLX ) main markets," said

Elisabetta Zenatti, vice president for content at Netflix

Brazil, a co-producer of "The Secret Agent." "There are

several reasons for this - our audience, for example, is known

for being extremely engaged, driving fandom and shaping

conversations."

Actors, producers and directors are pressuring lawmakers to

follow countries like France and Australia and advance a bill

that regulates streaming services, which would include requiring

a minimum share of local content and using some revenue to fund

local industry.

Brazilians are also eager to export more content.

"Under Pressure," a popular drama aired by Brazil's TV Globo

about an emergency room operating under extreme resource

shortages, is being adapted for the U.S. market Globo's 2012 hit

soap opera "Brazil Avenue" was remade in Turkey as "Leyla,"

which is now being offered back to Brazilian viewers.

International attention has Brazilian artists excited about

stories that can help the country understand itself. Both recent

Oscar nominees explore the painful legacy of the country's

military dictatorship.

"This is something that Americans are so great at, to

create, to export their culture," nominated actor Wagner Moura

said in a recent online conversation with Mendonca Filho.

To think that Brazilians can do that, too, is "beautiful,"

he added, "not only for foreigners but for ourselves."

($1 = 5.2765 reais)