More than 300 members of the global film community including Justine Triet, Pedro Almodóvar, Aki Kaurismäki, and the Dardenne brothers are protesting new Argentinian president Javier Milei’s proposals to defund the national film and TV body INCAA and scrap the country’s film schools.
Isabelle Huppert, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Kelly Reichardt, Mira Nair, Asif Kapadia, Isabel Coixet, Kleber Mendonca Filho, Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna have also signed a statement against a bill which would bring in sweeping cuts to government arts funding.
Argentinian filmmakers are understood to be in discussions with lawmakers over a bill which, according to Buenos Aires Herald, would remove some INCAA revenue streams in support of local film and TV, eliminate public funding of the state-run school ENERC, and remove a screen quota for local films in multiplexes.
INCAA currently has no head after the previous incumbent Nicolás Battle resigned when Milei came to power.
A statement by Cine Argentino Unido, a coalition of artists led by director associations, read: “Argentina has built a vibrant, heterogeneous, and dynamic film industry from its beginnings. Since 1944, the country has had state institutions that regulate and promote film activity using the resources generated by audiovisual exploitation.
“Today, the film industry involves tens of thousands of quality jobs and trains professionals who collaborate in co-productions around the world. Year after year, Argentine cinema is present at the Cannes, Berlin, San Sebastián, and Venice festivals, among many others, offering the world our perspective, our stories, and our identity. None of this would have been possible without public policies which promote culture and without the Film Law that provides specific funds for the activity.”
Last year Milei ran on a ticket of sweeping reforms designed to shore up the country’s hyperinflation and revive the catastrophic economy. Since taking office on December 10, he has allowed the peso to devalue by 50% and proposed broad cost-cutting which will affect the arts.
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