the emergence of film and Cinema has been seminal to Rio's development, articulating the cultural imagination of the 20th Century. In the 1910s and 20s film houses began  all around the city, hence the name of the district of the downtown area of the city - Cinelândia, where cinemas abounded throughout the 1930s.

Cinema Nova (New Cinema) emerged in the 1960s, led by filmmakers such as the Bahian, Glauber Rocha, exploring strong social themes and giving rise to the golden age of Brazilian cinema in the following decades.