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🇵🇹 Portugal /Culture & Society

Brazilian horror and sci-fi cinema targets global audience at Cannes

From Público · () Portuguese

Translated from Portuguese, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

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  • Brazilian genre films, particularly horror and science fiction, are gaining international attention, with five out of seven films presented at Cannes' Fantastic Cuts showcase being Brazilian.
  • This focus on genre cinema is seen as a strategic move for the Brazilian film industry to achieve greater commercial appeal and export potential in the global market.
  • The initiative aims to overcome historical market challenges faced by Brazilian cinema, drawing parallels with successful genre film industries in South Korea, Indonesia, Mexico, and Argentina.

Brazilian cinema is making a significant push onto the global stage, particularly in the horror and science fiction genres. At the recent Festival de Cannes, the Fantastic Cuts section, part of the VDF Showcase, featured seven feature films, with a notable five hailing from Brazil. This strong representation underscores a strategic shift for the Brazilian film industry.

While Brazil had no national feature films competing for the Palme d'Or at Cannes this year, the success in genre showcases highlights a new direction. Industry professionals see this focus on commercial genres as a crucial step towards increasing the exportability of Brazilian films. South Korea, Indonesia, Mexico, and Argentina have previously demonstrated the global market's appetite for genre cinema, and Brazil now aims to follow suit.

This ambition is supported by a rich history of talent in the horror genre, including the legendary José Mojica Marins, known as Zé do Caixão. More recent successes like "As Boas Maneiras" (2017) and Kleber Mendonça Filho's "Bacurau" (2019) have also explored genre elements. However, a persistent challenge for these films has been market access.

The VDF Connection, a consultancy, sales agency, and training platform founded by Brazilian curator Mônica Trigo and Argentinian Javier Fernández, aims to address this issue. Launched in 2025, the company debuted at Marché du Film and is now in its second year, presenting fifteen films across Fantastic Cuts and First Look sections. Trigo and Fernández believe their curated selection offers "stimulating works that dialogue with different genres, sensibilities, and production approaches, but share the same commitment to risk, identity, and international projection."

We believe that this edition offers a particularly stimulating panorama, with works that dialogue with different genres, sensibilities and production approaches, but which share the same commitment to risk, identity and international projection.

— Mônica Trigo and Javier FernándezThe founders of VDF Connection described the selection of films presented at the Marché du Film.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Público in Portuguese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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