Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival

The Festival do Rio is an international film festival in Rio de Janeiro. The festival was the result of a 1999 merger of two previous film festivals, the Rio Cine Festival and the Mostra Banco Nacional de Cinema. Founded in 1984 and 1988 respectively, the two festivals were held within a period of two months between each other. To avoid overloading the city with two film festivals within a short period of time, the two events were eventually merged.

Since its founding, the event has featured not only Brazilian productions but also films from all over the world—hence its official designation, the “International Film Festival.” The festival’s trophy and ultimate symbol, as well as a symbol of the city itself, is the Redentor Trophy (Troféu Redentor).

Today, Festival do Rio is the largest film event in Latin America and one of the main meeting points for professionals in the Brazilian audiovisual industry. It is known as an important showcase for films scheduled for release in Brazil and, throughout its editions, has welcomed major international cinema figures such as Isabelle Huppert, Samuel L. Jackson, Forest Whitaker, Jeanne Moreau, Agnès Varda, Ricardo Darín, Willem Dafoe, and many others.