Nicho54 is celebrating Black Brazilian creativity with a landmark preservation effort. Founder Fernanda Lomba frames this as proof of 'the strength of Black creativity over seven decades,' emphasizing partnership-building and the commercial potential for future generations of Black filmmakers.
Behind the celebration lies a painful reality: these 1,000+ films were systematically erased from Brazilian film history. The archive exists because the industry refused to preserve or distribute work by Black creators for over 70 years. This isn't just preservation—it's reclamation.
Cinemateca Negra maps exactly 1,030 films created between 1949-2022 by Black Brazilian filmmakers. Nicho54 will debut the initiative at Cannes alongside their fifth Sala54 platform launch and a first-time partnership with Pavilion Afronova dedicated to African continent and diaspora creatives.
This archive proves Black Brazilians have been making films for decades—the industry just refused to see them. Now they're building their own infrastructure, and Cannes is finally paying attention.
Brazil's Nicho54 Institute is taking over the Marché du Film at Cannes with a groundbreaking initiative that exposes a devastating truth: Black Brazilian filmmakers have been creating work for over 75 years, and almost no one bothered to preserve it. The organization is launching Cinemateca Negra—a comprehensive publication mapping more than a thousand films made by Black Brazilian filmmakers between 1949 and 2022—at the world's most prestigious film market this week.
The archive isn't just a database; it's evidence of systematic erasure. "Despite still facing deep historical inequalities when it comes to investment and visibility, the research demonstrates the strength of Black creativity over seven decades," said Fernanda Lomba, filmmaker and founder of Nicho54. But here's what she didn't say outright: that strength existed in spite of an industry that actively ignored, undervalued, or simply refused to acknowledge their contributions for generations.
Founder Fernanda Lomba will attend Cannes alongside curator Bethania Maia and producer Rubian Melo—not just to announce the archive, but to forge international partnerships that could finally give these films a commercial pathway. "Our hope is to establish partnerships that can help us promote the preservation of this memory and these films, as well as stimulate healthier business for the next generations of Black filmmakers," Lomba added. The language is diplomatic, but the mission is urgent.
Nicho54's Cannes presence extends beyond Cinemateca Negra. They'll also launch the fifth edition of Sala54, a digital platform dedicated exclusively to arthouse films directed by Black Brazilian filmmakers—a platform initially conceived as a streaming service for the Nicho Film Festival that now aims for global industry reach. This year's edition marks a significant milestone: the first-time partnership between Nicho54 and Pavilion Afronova at Cannes, which is specifically devoted to promoting creatives from the African continent and diaspora.
"Since the beginning of Nicho54, we anxiously wanted to establish cooperation with African initiatives," Lomba revealed. "Working alongside the Pavilion Afronova in Cannes this year is a strategic move that has been developed for years and places a bet on cooperation beyond the obvious shared sense of identity. We now have a commercial and artistic drive to strengthen cultural and economic bonds between Black Brazil, Africa and the diasporic Europe." The ambition is massive—bridging continental and diaspora Black communities through film infrastructure that didn't previously exist.
Curator Bethania Maia spoke to the philosophy behind Sala54's curation: "The platform aims to competitively position Black Brazilian cinema in the international audiovisual industry through an understanding of the importance of endorsing the global circulation of Black stories. The curatorial politics of Sala54 was constructed in a collaborative way, understanding Black thinking as multiple and in motion." She emphasized that the platform isn't just about visibility—it's about creative emancipation and reflecting "the diversity of Black points of view in the Brazilian audiovisual industry." Last month, Lomba reinforced her internationalization strategy by meeting with "My Father's Shadow" director Akinola Davies Jr. at the Projeto Paradiso National Talent Network gathering in Recife.
Her assessment was telling: "'My Father's Shadow' brings such a poetic and honest experience about masculinity, and particularly Black masculinity, to Brazil. Akinola bravely and generously weaves a fabulous patchwork of memory, private life, and Nigeria's history. We have a lot to learn from this filmmaker's gentle radicality in Brazil." The admiration signals where Nicho54 sees future collaboration heading—toward Pan-African solidarity rather than isolation.
