Commission approves project that obliges cinemas to show national films

This Tuesday (22), the Economic Affairs Committee (CAE) of the Senate gave a favorable opinion to Bill 3.696/23, also known as PL of the Screen Quota. The Project, authored by Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (AP), obliges cinemas to show national films under penalty of a fine of up to R$ 2 million.

CAE’s favorable opinion was reported by Senator Humberto Costa (PT-PE). “The cinema screen quota stipulates that exhibiting companies must include national cinematographic works in their programming, with current emphasis on feature films, with the purpose of offering opportunities for the dissemination of Brazilian audiovisual production in projection rooms. Similarly, the pay TV programming quota ensures the presence of national content in the programming of pay-TV channels”, says an excerpt from the report.

The author of the proposal celebrated the Commission’s approval. Through social networks, Randolfe said that the project “strengthens the national culture”.

“Victory of national cinema! We approved our PL on Screen Quota at the Economic Affairs Committee! This project reserves space for the country’s production on the cinema screens, making the audiovisual economy grow, and strengthens the national culture”, said the senator through the social network X, formerly Twitter.

Now, the proposal goes to the Education and Culture Commission (EC).

The so-called “screen quota” was established by means of a Provisional Measure (MP) of 2001, which stipulated a validity period of 20 years for the measure. In 2019, still during the validity of the MP, the Bolsonaro government determined that companies that had only one room to show national films should reserve 25 days a year for this type of content. For larger companies, this obligation reached 57 days of annual programming.

The previous rule provided for 63 days of exhibition for each room, regardless of the size of the company. In the new proposal, Randolfe wants to extend the quotas until December 31, 2043 and cites studies by the National Film Agency as justification for updating the model based on days of exhibition.

“The proposal even provides for the regulation to include 20% increase in meeting the quota for sessions after 5 pm, and the disclosure of room averageswhich will reduce the asymmetry of information in the sector, providing more transparency in the negotiation for the maintenance of Brazilian works on display”, says an excerpt from the PL.

“Screen Dimensions”

In 2021, months before the expiration of the MP on “screen quotas”, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) decided for the constitutionality of the measure.

The main criticisms of the project are due to the fact that the State obliges companies to make available products that eventually have low demand, which causes financial losses that, in turn, can be compensated with the increase in the price of tickets and, consequently, make it difficult to public access and generate the opposite effect of what was proposed by the measure.

“If there is an obligation to offer a product that will generate a lower margin, it will result in more losses. Companies, then, tend to compensate for this loss by raising prices, and as a result, society as a whole pays more. This applies to all segments”, said the economist and professor at the Institute of Education and Research (Insper), Alexandre Chaia, heard by People’s Gazette at the time of the Supreme Court decision.