#cinemateca

[Image description: firefighters work to control a fire at a warehouse owned by the national film institute, Cinemateca, which houses South America's largest collection of films, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, July 29, 2021.]

A government warehouse storing movies, documents and antique projectors from Brazil’s film industry caught fire Thursday night in Sao Paulo.

The fire department said 15 fire vehicles and 50 firefighters were at the site trying to prevent the flames from spreading to a larger area of the building.

The warehouse is owned by the national film institute, Cinemateca, and houses South America’s largest collection of films, some made of cellulose nitrate, a highly flammable material. The films in the warehouse were copies for exhibition, not originals, and the extent of the loss wasn’t immediately clear.

Last year, a flood at the same warehouse damaged part of the collection. In 2016, Cinemateca’s headquarters in another area of the city also suffered a fire.

Public prosecutors warned in a lawsuit filed last year that there was a danger of fire at the Cinemateca warehouse, charging that the federal government had neglected to maintain the building. The suit also said there had been delays in paying the institute’s utility bills and wages.

In April, Cinemateca employees wrote an open letter decrying the institution’s abandonment and demanding it be reopened after being closed for eight months.

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