New documentary film about artists, creative economy and urban regeneration released in Brazil by Cecilia Dinardi

How are culture and the arts transforming contemporary cities? What is the role of artists in urban regeneration and gentrification? How are the cultural and the creative economy fields related? Dr Cecilia Dinardi, Lecturer in Cultural Policy and Arts Management at ICCE, addresses these questions in her recently released film, ‘Bhering, the making of an arts factory’, her first experience in producing, directing and editing a film.

The film is a short research documentary about artists, creative economy and urban regeneration in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which draws on Cecilia’s previous postdoctoral fieldwork about creative cities in Latin America, looking at Bhering as a case study – a former chocolate factory that has become one of Rio’s main creative hubs and is currently entangled in urban redevelopment projects affecting the city’s central and port areas.

The documentary was presented at a public screening event organised last month at Conexão Rio in Bhering, the very place where it was shot. The film screening was part of the wider monthly event ‘Arts Circuit’, which artists and other creative workers organise, and attracted thousands of visitors in the August edition. There was a heated debate following the film; among the audience were members of the general public, artists, creative economy entrepreneurs, local residents, researchers and policymakers.

A video of the event is available here

As a local resident put it, ‘The memory of a place lies not only in its past, but also in what’s been going on in the present. [Cecilia] portrayed a living and active arts scenery, despite the difficult moment of Bhering and its surroundings nowadays’.

The film collects different visions, opinions and dreams about the future of the factory and the city, and is an invitation to think about the opportunities and challenges facing the development of creative economies.