Festival do Rio Offers Free Public Screenings on the Olympic Boulevard Prior to Opening

Published in 09/07/2022

For the first time in its history, Festival do Rio is holding free preview screenings aimed at the general public prior to its official opening on 6 October. The screenings are sponsored by Shell Brazil and supported by Rio’s City Hall. There will be free, open-air screenings on Rio’s Olympic Boulevard on September 29 and 30, and October 1. The screenings offer five films, four of which have already won over audiences. They include Damien Chazelle’s Oscar winning musical "La La Land”, which opens the program, animated favourites "Encanto" and “Rio" (directed by Brazil’s Carlos Saldanha), the Brazilian children's adventure, "Tainá: An Adventure in the Amazon”, as well as the new French production “King” from David Moreau.

Choosing the Olympic Boulevard as the stage for the previews is a way of the festival contributing to the re-opening of public spaces in the very heart of Rio. An area which in the past has played host to the festival. With an open-air cinema in the centre of downtown Rio, the festival provides an opportunity to enchant and win back members of the public that have stayed away from the cinemas following the pandemic. It is a festival of cinema once again occupying Rio.

Festival do Rio 2022 takes place between October 6 and 16 across Rio de Janeiro in a number of cinemas and other cultural centres.