The First International Meeting of Cities will take place Aug. 12-14 at the Gramado Film Market and will gather municipal-level authorities from such major towns as Medellín, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Maricá and fest-host Gramado as well as representatives of Brazilian and Ibero-American organizations to discuss how the creative economy — particularly the audiovisual industry — can contribute to social and economic development.

The program will highlight the successful cases of the 2.4-million-strong city of Medellín, Colombia, and Gramado, a tourist town with 40,000 residents in Southern Brazil, said Ralfe Cardoso, general coordinator of the Gramado Film Market.

Maria Fernanda Galeano Rojo, Medellín’s secretary of economic development, and Karla Valderrama, coordinator of the city’s film commission, will present in a panel the Colombian city’s experience in urban transformation — considered a model for other cities in Latin America — innovation, attracting audiovisual productions, and promoting economic and social development through the creative economy.

As for Gramado, Cardoso said the 54 consecutive annual editions of the film fest were a major driver turning the town into one of Brazil’s best-known tourist destinations. Gramado, in the mountains of Brazil’s southernmost state Rio Grande do Sul, offers European-inspired architecture, a strong gastronomic scene and several entertainment-themed complexes.

“The growth of tourism in Gramado is connected to the film festival,” Cardoso told Variety. “It all began 54 years ago. Gramado today ranks as the country’s second tourism destination, behind only Rio de Janeiro. The film festival created that. It’s interesting, because it’s something that began with art.”

The 10th edition of the Gramado Film Market will feature panels and pitching sessions, with the participation of execs from major companies such as Amazon MGM Studios, the Globo group’s Globo Filmes and streamer Globoplay, distributors Downtown Filmes, H2O Films and Vitrine Filmes, and Fernando Meirelles’ production company O2 Filmes.

The Gramado Film Market’s forum will offer panels on key issues facing the local and international film and TV industries. Letícia Friedrich will present the panel Vitrine Filmes: Sponsorship, Investment, Circulation and Impact. Friedrich, a partner and director of Vitrine, will address how public policy, investment and distribution strategy can work together to strengthen indie cinema.

Founded 15 years ago, Vitrine has built to become the leading distributor of Brazilian art features. The company distributed locally Kleber Mendonça’s “The Secret Agent,” which sold about 2.5 million admissions in the country, a spectacular performance for a Brazilian non-comedy art film.

The panel’s theme is the company’s Vitrine Petrobras Session, a program sponsored by Brazil’s state-owned oil giant Petrobras. As part of the program, Vitrine has released more than 80 Brazilian films in sessions with affordable ticket prices and organized discussions, training activities and masterclasses in film societies, schools and cultural institutions.

“Our project was created to democratize access to independent cinema by promoting Brazilian releases in commercial theaters across all regions of the country,” Friedrich told Variety. “Since 2023, the project has also invested in restoring and re-releasing classics of Brazilian cinema, reaffirming its commitment both to preserving the audiovisual memory and to promoting the country’s cinematic heritage.”

Audiovisual public policy specialist Gabriel Portela will take part on the panel Future Perspectives for the Brazilian Audiovisual Industry. He will discuss the sector’s technological transformations, new consumption habits, changing financing models and distribution challenges.

“The first question we need to address is developing strategies and policies so that Brazilian films can truly find its audience within the country. We cannot think about the development of our audiovisual industry without a strong domestic market,” Portela told Variety.

Marcelo Pedrazzi, director and partner of Quanta, one of Brazil’s leading audiovisual infrastructure and services companies, will participate on the panel Innovations in the Audiovisual Process: Technology, Efficiency and New Production Workflows. He will provide a historical view of the technological evolution since the Lumière brothers’ first dedicated public screenings of moving images in 1895.

“Over the past 25 years, the sector has undergone a major wave of transformation driven by innovation and technology. The advent of virtual production has opened the way to unprecedented worlds and new creative horizons,” he told Variety.