The fire was a major failing from the Brazilian government, and more devastatingly, a huge loss for the rich history of Brazilian cinema.
Cinemateca had suffered four fires prior to the most recent catastrophe. They occured in 1957, 1969, 1982, and 2016. News of the July 29 fire has been met with outrage, but, unfortunately, not surprise. “After the fire at the National Museum and multiple calls for help from the film community, nothing done,” the filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho wrote on Twitter. “It doesn’t even feel like an accident.”
A fire at the Brazilian Cinemateque last night in São Paulo. 4 tons of materials, 2K prints lost. After the fire at the National Museum and multiple calls 4help from the film community(20 days ago I called it out in Cannes), nothing done. It doesn’t even feel like an accident.
— Kleber Mendonça Filho (@kmendoncafilho) July 30, 2021
Only last year, the government dismissed all 62 Cinemateca staff members, effectively closing the institution. The Federal Public Ministry has since requested that a federal judge intervene on film collection’s behalf; however, the government passed the deadline set to take action.
On July 20, just days before the fire, a judge gave the government 60 more days to prove it has taken decisive steps toward reopening the institution.
The governor of São Paulo, João Doria, wrote that the incident is a “crime against Brazilian culture”, and that government neglect of cultural institutions will lead to the “gradual death of national culture”. Mário Frias, the former actor who was appointed secretary of culture in 2020, says that the federal police will assess whether the fire was criminal or not.
O incêndio na Cinemateca de São Paulo é um crime com a cultura do país. Desprezo pela arte e pela memória do Brasil dá nisso: a morte gradual da cultura nacional.
— João Doria (@jdoriajr) July 29, 2021
It remains to be seen what consequences the Brazilian government will face, but nothing can bring back the materials lost in the easily-preventable fires that ravaged years of cinematic brilliance.
