Organizers
Inffinito takes Brazilian
films to the largest audiovisual market in the world
Diretor's Profile and Interview
Events Production Company created from the need of integrating
Brazil to the cultural segments in the American territory
and to promote in Brazil events that ennoble our rich
and diversified culture.
The board director of the companies Inffinito Arts Foundation
(USA) and Inffinito Nucleo de Arte e Cultura (BRAZIL),
is composed by the professionals Adriana Dutra, Cláudia
Dutra and Viviane Spinelli, responsible for the success
of many events in the cultural field and corporate as
well.
Inffinito has been developing a type of work where the
Brazilian art and culture became present in the U.S.A.,
creating an artistic movement of integration within the
ethnic classes of the whole country. After all, a nation
that expresses its culture consequently becomes present.
With the success of the events organized and created
by Inffinito, Brazilian art and film earned a guaranteed
spot abroad. We made Miami the reference for national
films and not only that, Miami has become the stage for
new and acclaimed talent to express their art, showing
to the world the best of Brazil.
The time has come for dynamic art to strengthen life.
After all, culture is identity and the encounter of races,
and if you find it present, there will be more integration.
They are responsible for the first Brazilian film festival
to ever take place in the United States. Partners on the
production company Inffinito, Viviane Spinelli and the
sisters Adriana and Cláudia Dutra have been waving
the Brazilian flag in American ground since 1997, when
they organized the first Brazilian Film Festival in Miami.
The event’s goal is to take national productions
to the largest audiovisual market in the world, creating
audiences and boosting businesses among the foreign film
distributors and cable TVs. To gain even more visibility
to the Brazilian films in the United States, Inffinito
foundation has created the Brazilian Film Festival of
New York that in July will hold its third edition with
two days of movie screenings at the Central Park and another
week in the hottest spot for movies in New York, the tribeca
cinemas.
The Miami Festival is the only Brazilian event included
in the official city calendar and also counted as one
of the best entertainment options in Florida. Thirty thousand
people are expected to attend the festival this year,
which will show an average of 40 films. The first day
will be an outdoor screening right on South Beach and
the following screenings will take place at the Jackie
Gleason Theater, which has the capacity to hold up to
900 people each session. Between June 10th and 18th, those
places will be a gathering spot of actors and accomplishers
from Brazil and abroad: Americans, Brazilians and Latin-Americans
who are Miami’s residents, plus all the tourists
who are willing to have some fun with a great Brazilian
pair: popcorn and movie.
Adriana Dutra –Executive
Director
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Adriana Dutra’s experience with
production started on stage. She graduated on scenic
arts and very soon she learned how to do a little
bit of everything: scenography, make-up and whatever
else was involved in putting a theater play together.
Because of that, in 1994 she went to London to participate
in a workshop in directing shows. Before she returned
to Brazil, she decided to stop by Miami to visit her
sister Cláudia Dutra, who lived there at the
time. That was when she heard the news that her theater
group “Orchestrated Theatrical Movement”,
was splitting up. |
“The Brazilian Culture still lives in a lethargy
state and so I decided to stay in Miami”, says Adriana.
She then joined Viviane Spinelli and Cláudia Dutra
and they started to produce shows and events, always having
as a goal to introduce the Brazilian cultural potential
to the Latin-American market. With the so-called “retaking
of the Brazilian Film Industry”, they realized that
it was the perfect moment to create a display window for
the Brazilian productions abroad. And then, in 1997, the
first Brazilian Film Festival with a competitive nature
in the United States was created: The Brazilian Film Festival
of Miami. Since then, this 39 year-old from Rio, supporter
of Flamengo and Mangueira became a “fluctuating
resident” making occasional stops in Rio de Janeiro,
Miami and during the last three years, New York, where
she also took the Brazilian Film Festival.
Why Miami?
The closeness of Miami and Brazil is extremely interesting
to the Festival and also for the audiovisual activity
in Florida. Miami is considered the front door to any
Latin product in the United States. Nowadays, the great
TV studios, cable TVs and the main advertisement agencies
all have their headquarters in Miami, precisely because
it is a city that could serve both the U.S. and Latin
America. Because of that, Miami is the third movie spot
in the U.S. where there are certainly hundreds of productions
being shot, generating an enormous income to the State
of Florida. Besides, there are about ten film festivals
held in Miami, showing that the city is immersed in films
and guaranteeing it to be a gathering spot for those who
are meant to do business in this area.
How is the receptivity of the festival in the
city?
Approximately 2.5 million people live in Miami, and just
a small number was actually born in the city. There is
a real nationality mix in here: Italians, Spanish, English,
Cubans, Argentines, Haitians, Venezuelans, Americans (from
other States), Brazilians and so on. This shows the cosmopolitan
potential of the city, where the vibration of the cultural
diversity enables the receptiveness for all the cultures
to be lived and appreciated in this region.
Cláudia Dutra –
General Director
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Since 1989, Cláudia Dutra, 35
years old, has been spending half of her time in Brazil,
half in the USA where she moved to study Marketing.
Once graduated, she worked in the marketing department
of some magazines, advertisement agencies and department
stores in Florida. One day, her sister Adriana and
a friend Viviane Spinelli also came to live in Miami
in 1997 and the three of them created the Brazilian
Film Festival. Five years later, Cláudia moved
back to Rio de Janeiro, where she opened Inffinito
Brazil. At the position of General Director, she does
a little bit of everything in the production of the
Brazilian Film Festival of Miami and New York: pre
and post production of the event in Brazil, pre-guardianship
of the films, creation of advertising and marketing |
campaigns, guest selection, the festivals’ logistics,
production, direction and the festival’s luncheon
in Brazil, “amongst thousands of other things”
as she says it herself, that are fundamental for the full
development of the festivals.
How did the idea to create the Brazilian Film
Festival in Miami come up?
This idea came from the necessity of introducing a new
face of Brazil, a more positive one, showing its great
cultural diversity. At the time, Adriana and Viviane and
I used to work with the production of events related to
Brazil and we believed that with the process of retaking
the national film status we had a great opportunity in
our hands of showing the real value of our cinematographic
productions.
What about New York’s Festival?
We knew from the beginning with the Festival here in Miami
in 1997, that we would inevitably have to take this Festival
to New York. With the strengthening of the event in Miami
the next step would be to reaffirm what we already knew
it would happen: the 1st Brazilian Film Festival of NY,
2003. New York is a city that breathes culture and welcomed
us with open arms. In only three years, we have associated
with the greatest cultural event of the city, the Summer
Stage and we could then set up the first outdoor movie
screening at Central Park and now, the Festival’s
headquarters is the famous tribeca cinemas. The Brazilian
Film Festival of New York has a very different profile
from the one in Miami: it represents diffusion and visibility
of the Brazilian cinematography. Therefore the two Festivals
complete each other and create a perfect route in the
United States for the exhibition of recent national productions.
Since the first edition of Miami Festival, how many of
the films that participated on the event have managed
to close business with the American distributors and TV’s?
That is a dilemma because many deals are closed through
the Festival and we don’t really know numbers because
what happens in the Festival is just the beginning and
the closing is done after that. But to give you a percentage,
I believe that 40% of the producers and filmmakers that
go to the Festival close some kind of deal for their movies
or new partnerships.
Viviane Bressane Spinelli
– Art Director and Producer
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She was born in Cuiabá, capital
of Mato Grosso, in the Amazon area. Viviane Spinelli
moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1986, when she was 17 years
old, to go to college on Architecture and Urbanism.
Five years later, after she graduated, she went back
to her hometown and started a construction company.
At the same time, Viviane started getting involved
with the first editions of the Film and Video Festival
of Cuiabá. Her passion for the seventh art
was intense and she decided to turn the movie industry
into her profession. In 1995, she moved to San Diego,
California to study English and later on she moved
to Miami and founded Inffinito in a partnership with
Adriana Dutra. |
Nowadays, at 36 years old, Viviane shares her time between
Brazil and the United States and she still finds time to
dedicate herself to her newest passion: the carrier as a
movie maker. She is finalizing the documentary Pioneers
that tells the story of her family that during the 20’s
left Italy to explore Mato Grosso. The movie mixes archive
images and fiction and it will have its premiere in 2006.
How do you define Miami’s Festival?
It is a pioneer festival in showing Brazilian films abroad.
It gives incentives to an important cultural exchange,
exhibition space, distribution and realization of new
businesses by attracting international partners and contributing
to the strengthening of the commercial and cultural ties
between Brazil and the United States.
What is your opinion about the actual situation
of the Brazilian movies abroad?
The Brazilian movie industry has being growing a lot.
We are producing movies with better quality, creativity
and originality each time, but we are still lacking interest
from the public, exhibitors and distributors, not only
abroad, but also in Brazil.
Events organized by us:
• Brazilian Film Festival of Miami 97, 98, 99,
2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005;
• Brazilian Film Festival of New York 2003, 2004
and 2005;
• B-A-BÁ do Cinema – A social work
from the Brazilian Film Festival at public schooll in
Brazil – 2003, 2004 e 2005;
• Launching of the Fispal Latino in Miami - Viscaya
Palace – Miami, 2004;
• William Claxton’s Photographic Exposure
- TIM Festival - São Paulo, 2004;
• Margareth Menezes’s Show - New York, 2004;
• Araketu’s Show - New York, 2004;
• Olodum’s Show – Miami, 2004;
• Cinema Gardem – Outdoor movie screen at
Botanical Gardem - Miami Beach, 2003 and 2004;
• Fernanda Porto’s Show - Miami Beach, 2003;
• Madame Satã – International Kick-off
- New York, 2003;
• Intrépida Trupe Presentation - Miami Beach,
2002;
• Renata Arruda’s Show - Miami Beach, 2002;
• Marília Pera and Band’s Show –
Miami, 2001;
• Marisa Monte Tour USA, 2000;
• Jobim Morelembaum Tour USA, 2000;
• International Production of the Program Muvuca,
TV Globo, 2000;
• Lulu Santos Tour USA, 1999;
• Moraes Moreira’s Show, 1999;
• Armandinho and Trio Elétrico’s Show,
1999;
• Claudinho & Buchecha Tour USA, 1999;
• Gabriel O Pensador Tour USA, 1998;
• Bike Nite Brasil Independence Day Celebration
96, 97, 98, 99;
• Herman Leonard’s Photographic Exposure -
Free Jazz Festival Opening - Rio de Janeiro, São
Paulo and Porto Alegre, 1998;
• Presentations of the World Cup Games, 1998;
• Halloween Parties, 96, 97, 98;
• Elba Ramalho Tour USA, 1997;
• Vulcano Partties;
Direction, Screenplay, art direction and production
of the short films - fiction from the BRAZILIAN FILM FESTIVAL
OF MIAMI:
1997 / Vídeo - “Renascimento do Cinema Brasileiro”;
1998 / Vídeo - “O Cinema Brasileiro na praia
do Tio Sam”;
1999 / Vídeo - “For Movies Lovers”;
2000 / Cinema - “Um Novo Horizonte para o Cinema
Nacional”;
2001 / Cinema- “A Celebration of Quality Arts”;
2002 / Cinema- “A Vacation From Hollywood”;
2003 / Vídeo – “Yes we make wonderful
movies”.
- Direction and executive production of the documentary
“Pioneiros”, 2003, 2004, 2005;
- Research, Direction, Screenplay, art direction and executive
production of the documentary retrospect of the Brazilian
Film Festival of Miami – 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
2002 e 2003;
- Creation, Direction, Screenplay, Art Direction and
production of the television spot commercial 30 seconds,
and television spot commercial 1 minute, of the Brazilian
Film Festival of Miami – 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000,
2001, 2002 e 2003;
- Direction and screenplay of the television spot commercial
of BR MarketPlace – Workshops and seminarys to the
commercialization, exhibition and co- production of Brazilian
cinema in the national and international market 98, 99,
2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003;
- Cordination and production of VII National Seminar of
Ombudsmans - Rio de Janeiro, 2002;
-Direction, screenplay and production of the television
spot commercial of Transmares Travel, 1999.
- - Cast and location rent of the television spot commercial
of Uno Remitance, 1997;
- Production of the feature film “Natal da Portela”.
Directed by Paulo César Saraceni, 1996;
- Commercial direction, Marketing direction and Editorial
of the Magazine ABO-RJ.
BOARDS OF DIRECTORS:
Executive Director - Adriana Dutra
General Director - Cláudia Dutra
Art and Productions Directors - Viviane Spinelli
Staff USA-Brazil
Administrative Manager- José Ruy Dutra
Press Assistant Brazil- Cristina Rio Branco (Palavra Assessoria
em Comunicação).
Press USA - Isabel Flores
Production- Don Donini, Eliane Marins Fábio Zambroni,
Fernanda Luz, Gilda Grimaldi, Isabela de Oliveira, Juliana
Zanon, Lucas Nogueira, Paula Versiani, Roberto De Jong,
Tatina Aleixo, Fernando Machado
Assistente administrativa- Teresa Gibaldi
Graphic Designer- Antônio Molisani
Website Design- Absoluta Internet- Leonardo Pereira Villela
e Nathaly Avigdor Madmoun Najm
Guest Relation- Denise del Cueto e Claudia Gutierres
Guest P.R- Erica Freshman e Andrea Cecilio
Photographer- Marcelo Bravo
Projectionist- Jon Gafckle
Official Agency of Brazilian Film Festival- MG
Marketplace Consultant- Joane Butcher, Samara Yeshaiek
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