December 29, 2021
10:12
Priscilla Peixoto – from Cenarium Magazine
MANAUS – The cultural sector has been, no doubt, one of the segments most harmed by the pandemic. Slowly the artistic class is getting back on its feet from the shock that in 2020 alone left at least 600 thousand workers unemployed, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). At the end of another year and with an apparently more hopeful scenario, mainly because of vaccines, CENARIUM listened to some local artists to know the perspectives and feelings of these professionals who move, cheer, and entertain society.
For the Amazon producer and filmmaker Z Leão, the audiovisual sector, more precisely the seventh art, is still far from being valued in the state, and the pandemic only worsened the fight that has been going on for years. Even in hostile times, he emphasizes the highlights of some short films produced in Amazonas and reinforces the need for initiatives that contemplate the segment.
“Regardless of the pandemic, even though the Amazonian cinema is always rowing against the current, we had award-winning short films during the year. Of course that in times of Covid-19 everything became much more difficult, but we must not forget that local governments have not yet understood that after 21 years of the retaken of the Amazon cinema and thanks to the tireless and solitary initiatives of the late Junior Rodrigues it is necessary to think big, act like big people and not promote this ‘childish’ cultural management in the audiovisual”, highlights Z Leão.
In the filmmaker’s reading, much beyond the period marked by Covid-19, from the years 2000 to 2021 the class that promotes the local cinema production lives of much effort and little appreciation. “They didn’t have the guts to understand that the Amazonian cinema should be treated with red carpets and not with this patchwork, faded yet. The Amazonian cinema already has more than a thousand professionals working and eager to make great productions with adequate resources, but, unfortunately, they survive year after year on the crumbs that the guardians of the local culture insist on giving as a handout. The years from 2000 to 2021 were not good at all for Amazonian cinema”, he considers.
For the new year that is coming, the filmmaker expects more investment and thus show all the real potentiality of audiovisual productions. “We expect better and much bigger things for our future talented filmmakers, with gigantic projects of world cultural importance”, wishes Z Leão.
Against the tide
If for the audiovisual class the scenario to maintain themselves in the market is one of much struggle and insistence, the artists who work with the art of painting and graphics, even in pandemic times, have reaped good fruits. One of the names that stood out among the professionals in graphics in Amazonas was the artist Fábio Ortiz, 27 years old.
Son of riverside parents from the municipality of Manacapuru, 93 kilometers from Manaus, he divides himself between agronomy and art since 2016, when he had his first contact with the technique of graffiti. One of the most striking works carried out in 2021 by Ortiz was the graffiti in the Indigenous Memory Village of Manaus, in April this year. The 34-meter long mural, located at Dom Pedro II Square, in the city’s Historical Center, has four graffiti images inspired by historical books and documents.
“I know that in a pandemic period the artistic class has been very affected, but with the graffiti I had demands that opened doors. Not only me, but also my friends who work in this field. I can’t complain, it would be unfair. Obviously, my routine has been affected like everyone else, and as a student, different from the professional field, I felt quite hindered, but I confess that there was no lack of work. I sincerely hope that things get better for everyone and, especially, for those who make their living from art. Only we know how valuable and essential our craft is”, says the artist.
Challenge
For the singer and partner director of Casa Som Amazônia, Ellen Fernandes, the last two years have been challenging for independent artists, and like filmmaker Z Leão, Ellen stresses the importance of incentive laws for those who promote in the cultural sector.
“The artistic scenario this year was one of many challenges for every independent artist. The Aldir Blanc Cultural Incentive Law is very important in this moment that the cultural sector is still redoing itself. I was able to launch the Batelão da Amazônia Program, which is a production benefited by the law, and I could strengthen the authorial work and the exchange with other artists. I could also realize the need for a greater expansion of the music market on several levels, such as the educational and phonographic levels, for example.
The cultural manager hopes that along with a new cycle will also come the strengthening and greater appreciation of art, not only as a tool for entertainment, but as an instrument of education. “We are constantly working to contribute to the strengthening of a public that is able to identify the complexity of the artist’s work, and the importance of art and music, specifically as elements of citizen education. I hope for a year 2022 with lots of music and lots of art, because it was these means that did not make us succumb during the pandemic”, he concludes.
Amazonas
With the paralysis of cultural activities because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government of Amazonas, through the State Secretariat of Culture and Creative Economy of Amazonas, held several measures to mitigate the impacts suffered by the artistic class Amazon, mainly, economic.
According to the State Secretary of Culture of the State, Marcos Apolo Muniz, among the actions taken are edicts and aid that contemplate workers of the segment. To alleviate the difficulties experienced during the period, basic food baskets were delivered to, at least, 12 thousand workers of the class and psychosocial assistance channels were opened, among other support activities carried out by the folder.
“Many artists and technicians in the area work today in order to feed themselves the next day, and if they don’t have this work for long periods of time, they will already be in need. That is why we focus on psychosocial actions and on public funding, such as the Aldir Blanc Law. In short, we do a balance prioritizing health, but understanding that just as the Secretary of Social Action was acting, doing its role, the Secretary of Culture also had a large group of people to help in any way possible”, points out the secretary.