Possible (Dis)connections

The case of Filmes de Plásticos Partnership with Netflix

Abstract

The announcement of a new film by the production company Filmes de Plástico, in partnership with Netflix, amid ongoing debates concerning the regulation of video-on-demand (VOD) services in Brazil, has generated both surprise and critical inquiry. At first glance, the trajectories of the Minas Gerais-based production company and the global streaming platform appear to diverge. This study examines the significance of this encounter, which illuminates Netflix’s broader political project to consolidate its position as a key actor in Brazilian audiovisual production and cultural spheres — a strategy previously deployed in other national contexts to counter regulatory pressures and maintain hegemonic dominance. The analysis develops along two complementary lines. First, it explores Filmes de Plástico’s fifteen-year trajectory, characterized by films deeply rooted in local realities yet recognized internationally. Second, it investigates Netflix’s motivations for engaging in this partnership and considers the possible implications for Brazilian cinema — where opportunities for visibility and circulation coexist with risks of subordination to market-driven logics and the weakening of cultural autonomy. Drawing upon Fernandes and Albornoz’s (2023) studies on Netflix’s operations in Spain and Mexico, as well as Dal Yong Jin’s (2013, 2023) analyses of platform capitalism and the global audiovisual sector, this paper argues that the partnership may operate as a strategy of co-optation, with consequences for public policy and for the contemporary configuration of Brazilian cinema. Ultimately, it questions whether this collaboration prefigures a reconfiguration of the national audiovisual landscape according to the logic of global streaming platforms.