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BITS & PIECES www.postmagazine.com 4 POST APRIL 2017 FILMBRAZIL HOSTS 'BRAZILIAN DIRECTORS SHOWCASE' LOS ANGELES & AUSTIN, TX — A busy farmer spends all day with his arm stuck up the backsides of various cows. Cut to a romantic dinner, and the farmer is now feeding his beloved a tasty morsel — with the same out- stretched hand and arm (hopefully he bathed thoroughly first!). It's an irreverent, funny, inventive spot, and gives you a taste of what was on display when FilmBrazil recently hosted its yearly American event "Brazilian Directors Showcase" in LA and, for the first time, at SXSW 2017. This was the third edition of the "Brazilian Directors Showcase," with FilmBrazil having hosted the event last year in Los Angeles and in New York and Chicago the year before. The road show is far and away the most important opportu- nity for Brazilian directors to show their work to the American adver- tising market, as well as to bring more attention to Brazil's burgeon- ing cinema and post production infrastructure. Founded in 2003, FilmBrazil once again showcased some of the very best work from the most talented production, animation and brand- ed content companies. Companies represented in the showcase included: Academia de Filmes, Bando, Barry Company, Big Bonsai, Conspiração, Consulado, Iconoclast, Lobo, Paranoid and Prodigo. Also premiering this year, there were some sound produc- tion companies in the group, including A Voz do Brasil, Jamute and Satélite. Agencies attending the showcase included EnergyBBDO, VML, McCann NY, Y&R NY, Arnold Worldwide, Digitas and Venables. The events were held at the Viceroy Hotel, Santa Monica, in Los Angeles, and at the Van Zandt Hotel, in Austin, TX. "This is just one of our newest activities which are being made by Apex-Brasil at SXSW and it's fully linked to our strategy for increasing business for Brazilian creative econo- my companies in the US," says Rafael Prado, business promoting coordi- nator of Apex-Brasil. Apex-Brasil is supporting 62 Brazilian companies in SXSW 2017, the biggest Brazilian del- egation in Austin since the very first participation, in 2014. "Showing up first in Los Angeles and then going to Austin during SXSW is such a big challenge for our team. In the last four years, we've been maturating our presence at the festivals, understanding more and being much more involved with all the innovation in this highly competitive market," says Marianna Souza, execu- tive manager of FilmBrazil. "'Brazilian Directors Showcase' has turned out to be an enormous success. We received double registrations compared to one year ago." Brazil is now the 6th largest advertising market in the world, and in 2014, media investments in Brazil turned over about USD $10 billion. "Brazil is unstoppable force today in advertising, and it's also grow- ing in film, post production, sound and other areas," notes Renato Fernandez, chief creative officer, TBWA\Chiat\Day, who attended the SXSW event. "SXSW was a great ex- perience for us and gave us another chance to show the wide variety and storytelling skills of our creatives. "But it's not just all about trop- ical themes, carnival and soccer," he stresses. "Brazilian creatives can do anything, and are being 'export- ed' to all parts of the world." As an example, he cites Jose Padilha, the acclaimed Brazilian director/producer/ writer whose credits include the hit Netflix series Narcos, Elite Squad, The Enemy Within and the 2014 remake of RoboCop. And then there's the Oscar- nominated Brazilian director Carlos Saldanha whose credits include such Hollywood blockbuster franchises as Ice Age and Rio. "And this Brazilian Showcase demonstrates that Brazilian directors and production companies are among the very best nowadays, and capable of doing amazing work in all kinds of areas, including post and sound," sums up Fernandez. "It is not a short- list. It is a sharp list." — By Iain Blair