After creating a USD 100 million fund to help audiovisual industry workers due to the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, of which USD 1 million were granted to support the Mexican industry, Netflix now announced that it will award R$ 5 million (almost USD 1 million) to an emergency fund in support of the sector in Brazil.

The fund is managed by the Instituto de Conteúdos Audiovisuais Brasileiros (ICAB), and will help around 5 million industry workers in the country, including camera and audio operators, makeup staff, producers, technicians, assistants, and others. The Netflix aid will mean a single payment of R$ 1,045 (USD 200), and anyone who is interested will be able to request it from next April 28th through the ICAB’s website. A committee made up of members of ICAB, BRAVI (Brasil Audiovisual Independente) and Netflix will review each application and decide to whom the fund will go to. Registrations to it can be made for two months, or until its resources are off.

Mauro Garcia, Executive Director at ICAB, said that the entity is ‘very satisfied’ with the aid provided by Netflix, although he also added his intention to ‘invite other players in the audiovisual industry to contribute and increase resources, which are aimed exclusively to support those who are an essential part of Brazilian audiovisual production’.

‘We are happy to work with ICAB to support those film and TV production workers who were the most punished in Brazil. The Brazilian creative community has always received us very well, and now we want to offer our help to those who need support in this unprecedented moment we are experiencing’, said Francisco Ramos, Original Productions VP of Netflix for Latin America.