cinema makes up a big portion of the creative programming of rio de janeiro, with film events springing up all over the city throughout the year, yet not many are as well established as the admired cinesul festival. 

the event is a three-day spectacular that takes place once a year, dedicated to latin american and iberian cinema, aiming to disseminate productions that rarely reach the commercial circuit.

the event features films from all over the latin world, in various different forms and genres, including fictions and documentaries, in long, medium, and short formats.

one of the oldest film festivals in rio, cinesul began 20 years ago, as a venture by the banco do brasil to bring previously unreleased productions from latin america to the brazilian public.