Rio de Janeiro Opens R$15 Million Co-Production Fund as It Chases Global Film Partners — Including China
Rio de Janeiro's film-TV agency RioFilme will launch a R$15 million ($3 million) call for proposals to fund up to four international co-production projects involving Rio-based companies, with full details to be announced at the Gramado Film Market during Gramado Fest 2026.
Leonardo Edde, president of RioFilme, told Variety that fiction and animated feature films are eligible to apply. The call requires projects to abide by Brazilian regulations, and the rules differ depending on where a co-production partner is based. If the partner comes from one of the 13 countries that have co-production agreements with Brazil — South Africa, Germany, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Spain, France, India, Israel, Italy, Portugal, the UK and Venezuela — the project must operate within those bilateral agreements' terms. If the partner is from anywhere else, the Rio-based company must hold at least 40% of the film's rights, and two-thirds of the artists and technicians must be Brazilian, under the general co-production rules of Brazil's National Cinema Agency, Ancine. Variety
The city has been building toward this. Rio streamlined its film commission and introduced incentives that made it one of the most filmed cities in the world, surpassing Paris and Mexico City in days shot in the city. In the first half of 2026, Rio hosted 40 international productions, up from 28 in the same period a year earlier, according to RioFilme.
Edde's ambitions extend well beyond the new fund. He said RioFilme's next step is to foster ties with China, Russia and India — Brazil's partners in the Brics alliance — where film and TV cooperation is currently minimal. "Integration between the countries will be achieved through the cultural and especially audiovisual industry," Edde told Variety. The timing aligns with the Brazil–China Cultural Year 2026, and Brazil's Congress is close to approving a co-production agreement between the two nations.
Brazil's Ministry of Culture sent a delegation including Edde to the 28th Shanghai International Film Festival in June and organised screenings of Brazilian films across eight Chinese cities. Members of the China Film Producers' Association (CFPA) are scheduled to visit Rio de Janeiro over 16–19 November. RioFilme is also negotiating a partnership with the Hengdian Group, which owns Hengdian World Studios in Zhejiang Province — the world's largest film and television production centre.
The plan is to use Hengdian as a model for Rio's Creative District, a zone that includes the main sports complex from the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics, a Cinema Pole with 16 studios expected by year's end, and the production centres of Brazilian broadcasters Globo and Record. Edde has also started the process of enrolling RioFilme in the UHD World Association (UWA), a technical and industrial body with nearly 500 company members including Huawei, iQIYI, Baidu, Alibaba and Xiaomi.
The infrastructure push addresses a problem Edde identified in May 2025, when he told Variety that the lack of modern infrastructure was an obstacle to expanding Rio's production sector. That same month, RioFilme announced a broader R$131 million ($23 million) package of incentives for film and TV production and distribution. A sector-wide development plan called FICA, proposing new credit lines and spearheaded by Edde, was flagged for launch in September 2025.
For crews, writers and producers, the new R$15 million line opens a concrete funding path into co-productions anchored in Rio. For international partners, it signals a city that has spent two years building the studios, the incentives and the relationships to back that invitation up.
