The government of Javier Milei, Argentina’s far-right leader, has pushed through highly controversial plans to defund all state funding to the National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts (INCAA), the country’s national film body.
In an official public notice published Tuesday, Milei’s Human Capital Ministry said it discovered a $4 million deficit in INCAA’s budget partly funded by the Treasury and, as a result, would move to cut costs by suspending all funding to the institute. “Our commitment to a zero budget deficit is non-negotiable.
The time when film festivals were financed with the hunger of thousands of children is over,” the ministry stated. The austerity plans will see large parts of INCAA’s everyday operations suspended, with phone lines, transport fares, overtime pay, and staff contracts cut.
The decision will also suspend all support for national film releases. The move is also expected to affect the Mar del Plata International Film Festival in Eastern Argentina, the only category A film festival in Latin America, and the Buenos Aires-based market, Ventana Sur, which is jointly organized by INCAA and Cannes’ Marché du Film.
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