These guidelines are for film/audiovisual production companies who wish to develop co-productions with Brazilian production companies.

Qualification as an official co-production with Brazil means that the film or audiovisual work will be treated as a national film in Brazil and as such will be eligible for programs and benefits offered by the Brazilian government, which include, for example, a range of funding opportunities and quotas for theatrical and pay-TV exhibition of national productions.

In order to have their project certified as an official co-production with Brazil, foreign producers should enter into partnership with a Brazilian production company, who will then apply for provisional approval for the project at ANCINE. Application for provisional approval should be submitted prior to the shooting of the film. When the production is completed, the Brazilian co-producer must apply for final approval.

Step by step procedure

Step 1: Choosing a Brazilian partner

In order to qualify as Brazilian, a company must be Brazilian-owned and controlled. Only independent Brazilian companies registered at ANCINE may apply for provisional approval and access the Brazilian government financial incentives, whether they are of federal, state or municipal level. 

Step 2: Finding out if your project qualifies as an official co-production

In order to apply for provisional approval (which is the first step to follow if you want your project to be considered an official co-production), certain requirements must be met.

As a general rule, financial participation must be proportional to ownership rights, as well as to the artistic and technical participation in the project. Therefore, the partnership between the Brazilian and the foreign co-producers must be comprehensive. Purely financial co-productions do not qualify as official co-productions, except in the rare instances in which the applicable co-production treaty allows it.

There are two categories of official co-productions: co-production under an international co-production treaty or in the absence of one.

- A co-production under an international co-production treaty means that the project must meet the requirements of the applicable co-production treaty.

- A co-production in the absence of an international co-production treaty must comply with stricter conditions. In this case, the Brazilian co-producer must have at least 40% of the ownership rights, and at least 2/3 of the artistic and technical crew must have Brazilian citizenship or be Brazilian residents for 3 years or more.

Step 3: Documentation for provisional approval

Once the Brazilian co-producers have verified that the project is eligible for official co-production status, they should apply for provisional approval at ANCINE prior to shooting. Application requires the following documentation to be presented:

- For co-productions under an international co-production treaty, the documentation specified in Article 4 of ANCINE’s Normative Instruction 106/2012, as well as that specified in the applicable treaty.

- For co-productions in the absence of an international co-production treaty, the documentation specified in Article 4 of ANCINE’s Normative Instruction 106/2012.

Step 4: Foreign language documents

Foreign language documents must be translated into Portuguese by a Brazilian certified translator.

With regards to scripts, the registration document may be issued in Brazil, at Fundação Biblioteca Nacional, in Rio de Janeiro, irrespective of the language or the nationality of the scriptwriters. This may be preferable to having a foreign registration translated into Portuguese by a certified translator.

Step 5: Submitting your project to ANCINE

The Brazilian co-producer is the agent who will submit the project to ANCINE (Superintendência de Fomento / Coordenação de Análise de Direitos). This must be done before the shooting begins. The evaluation process for issuing the provisional approval should take about 2 (two) months. When the film is completed, the Brazilian co-producer must apply for final approval, which occurs through the issuance of the Certificado de Produto Brasileiro (“Certificate of Brazilian Product”).