RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced on May 30 in Rio 2C the creation of Tela Brasil (Screen Brasil), a free public streaming service with an initial catalog of 555 Brazilian productions.
Anyone with an account on Gov.br, the official digital platform of the Brazilian Federal Government, can log in to Tela Brasil. The new streamer will offer 139 locally produced feature films, 85 medium-length or TV movies, 267 short films, and 64 series from 1910 to 2025.
“Tela Brasil helps people understand countries like Brazil more deeply. We hope that Tela Brasil will become an important platform that brings Brazilians closer to their own culture. Getting to know our own people is very important to us,” Lula said at the opening ceremony. “At Tela Brasil you will find an excellent and lively selection of programs.”
Lula made the announcement at a ceremony at Rio 2C, along with representatives from the film and television industry and government officials, including Brazil’s Minister of Culture and star singer Margareth Menezes, Rio Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere, and Interim Rio State Governor Ricardo Couto.
During the ceremony, the Ministry of Culture and the Telecommunications Corporation of Brazil (EBC) signed an agreement to bring EBC’s catalog to Tela Brasil, containing more than 150 titles and a total of approximately 3,000 hours of content.
The catalog includes such TV shows as the talk show “Sem Censura”. Feature films currently available for viewing on Tela Brasil include Glauber Rocha’s Black God, White Devil (1964), Kaka Dieguez’s Sica da Silva (1976), Fabio Barreto’s Oscar-nominated O Cutrillo (1995), Susana Amaral’s The Hour of the Star (1985), Bruno Barreto’s Oscar-nominated The Four Days of September (1997), Hector Babenco’s Carandil (2003), Jamie Mongiardim’s Olga (2004), and Lucia Murat’s Almost Brothers (2005).
The federal government invested R$9 million ($1.8 million) in 2024 and 2025 to establish Tela Brasil, which includes content licensing, technology development, accessibility features, curation, and project management. The Ministry of Culture and the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL) developed the technology for the platform.
“Culture opens your mind, broadens your horizons and helps you see further. We must create opportunities for Brazilians to have access to everything,” Lula added. “We have extraordinary artists. Why shouldn’t we be proud to showcase what we have created? Our country must transform so that we can chart our own trajectory once and for all and fully assert our independence.”
(From left to right) Minister of Culture Margareth Menezes, President Lula, First Lady Janja Lula da Silva, and Minister of Industry Márcio Elias Rosa. Credit: Film Art
During the ceremony, Brazil’s Minister of Industry, Commerce and Services (MDIC) Márcio Elias Rosa emphasized that the audiovisual industry is included in Nova Industria Brasil, the federal government’s comprehensive program for the development of the country’s industrial sector. A working group within MDIC has identified 11 priorities for the development of Brazil’s audiovisual industry.
“The audiovisual industry accounts for 0.6% of Brazil’s GDP, employs a highly skilled workforce and generates more than 680,000 direct jobs. Our goal is to increase the audiovisual industry’s share of GDP to 1%. It is an ambitious goal, but these professionals are capable and we will work towards it,” Rosa said. He added that on June 17, the government will hold a seminar with representatives of public institutions such as the Federal Public Banks (Caixa Economica Federal, BNDES, Banco do Brasil) and Finep to design financing facilities tailored to the audiovisual industry.
