RIO DE JANEIRO – Latin America’s largest creativity event, Rio2C, will gather at the Cidade das Arts Complex in Rio de Janeiro from June 4-9, with around 50,000 participants, up from 44,000 last year, including around 1,600 speakers and around 1,100 delegates. companies
Modeled after SXSW, the fifth in-person edition of Rio2C will feature more than 500 panels designed to promote the convergence of film/TV, music, innovation, tech, games, publishing, science, fashion, sustainability and sports.
Rio2C 2024, which has “The Age of Awareness” as its central theme, opens on Tuesday, June 4, with five summits, followed by three days of conferences and markets. The event culminates on the weekend of June 8-9 with the Festivalia, attended mostly by music and technology fans.
Virtually all major international film and TV groups based in Brazil will be at Rio2C. Some of them will present sessions highlighting aspects of their operations and new projects, such as Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery/Max, as well as Globo, a leading local media group.
“Rio2C is key for the Brazilian film and TV sector, as it brings together key players in the market and promotes the necessary exchange and reflection. Warner Bros. actively participates in the event with discovery panels and discussions and believes that synergy strengthens the industry and stimulates the production of quality local content,” says Monica Pimentel, VP of content at WBD Brazil.
Rio2C 2024 will see a record attendance of foreign participants. The list of international speakers includes Ron Lesham whose credits include “Euphoria” and “No Man’s Land”; Armando Bow, “Birdman;” An original screenplay for Oscar winner Caleb Pinkett, series “Cobra Kai;” Producer Additi Effiong, helmer of the feature “The Black Book” and leading producer in Nigeria’s Nollywood; Gaston Duprét and Mariano Cohn, writer-directors of the Venice winner “The Distinguished Citizen” and the series “Nada,” “The Boss” and “Bellas Artes;” creators of and Axel Kushevetsky, producer of “Argentina, 1985”.
Carlos Saldanha, the Brazilian animator who helmed smash hit feature-length animations such as “Ice Age: The Meltdown,” “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” “Rio,” “Rio 2” and “Ferdinand,” Another Rio2C speaker with an outstanding international career.
An increasingly strong presence of international creatives and execs is a highlight of this year’s event. Ezequiel Olzanski, CEO of EO Media, an international content distribution and production company based in Latin America, is attending Rio2C for the first time.
“Rio2C should be considered a very relevant event, given Brazil’s undeniable importance, both in size and value, not only to Latin America but to our industry globally. A continent in itself, given the population and its own language,” says Olzhansky, who previously worked for Gaumont, Marvista and Endemol.
Sandra De Castro Buffington, co-producer of the doc “Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power” and founder of the Global Media Center for Social Impact da UCLA is also attending the event for the first time.
“Rio2C is the pinnacle of creativity and engagement for the entertainment industry. It uncovers an enormous opportunity for co-production between Hollywood and Latin America’s top producers and enables strategic alliances and partnerships to emerge,” says Buffington.
The presence of almost all the top manufacturing and distribution companies in Brazil at Rio2C offers great networking opportunities.
“Rio2C is the premier gathering of the film and TV industry in Brazil, with business-relevant results for companies and executives, and reflections on the present and future of our sector. This is an essential event for everyone working with the production, commercialization and exhibition of film and TV content in the country,” says former Brazilian culture minister Sergio Sa Leitao, who is now director of a Sao Paulo-based production company. Cine.E.
Rio2C’s predecessor is RioContentMarket, a small film and TV event held in a hotel in Rio from 2011 to 2017. In 2017, Brazilian entrepreneur Rafael Lazzarini licensed the RioContentMarket mark with ambitious plans to expand the event.
Lazzarini, who has a background in marketing and studied media and entertainment management at UCLA, worked in Brazil and the US for major companies such as Petrobras and Rogers & Cowan. He says he envisioned the event with the current structure of Rio2C when he first attended South by Southwest (SXSW) in 2007 in Austin, Texas.
“In Brazil, film and TV creatives don’t talk to music, tech, publishing and other talents. Everyone kept their own boxes. At South by Southwest, I realized how the event could help them communicate and work with each other. They are complementary sectors and have to talk to each other,” said Lazzarini, who currently holds the position of CEO of Rio2C along with senior VP of a large Live Nation and head of business development for Latin America.
Instead of starting from scratch, Lazzarini decided to buy RioContentMarket, a mostly film and TV event, and incorporate new areas. Again, the model was SXSW, the predecessor of which was the music conference, he said.
The first Rio2C was held in Cidades da Artes in 2018 and the event has grown from around 5,000 participants in RioContentMarket 2017 to an expected 50,000 this year.
What’s next?
“As South by Southwest, we intend to create spin-offs of Rio2C for specific creative industries,” Lazzarini said.