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Ricardo Ribenboim - Director of Itaú Cultural The documentary has been gaining a greater emphasis in Brazilian audiovisual production. The award for Best Film for "Santo Forte", by Eduardo Coutinho, at the 32nd Brasília Film Festival, among many others, confirms the importance of the genre for the nation's cinema and reaffirms the stimulating role this production has played in the program Rumos Itaú Cultural Cinema e Video. The demand created by the expansion of pay-TV and the democratization of the production media has expanded esthetic and thematic diversification. The frontiers between cinema and video, expression and documentation, information and entertainment, fiction and reality, which used to be rigid, have intersected. These facts contribute to transforming the genre into one of the most important audiovisual products in the world. The It's All True - International Documentary Film Festival, which has played a fundamental role in disseminating Brazilian production, is expanding its activities this year, by making room for discussions between filmmakers, producers and the public. At the same time, the International Conference "Documentary Trends and Perspectives" - an initiative of ECA-USP and Itaú Cultural - plans to provide an immersion in the issues surrounding the genre and reflection on the maturing of the Brazilian production. This has been a constant concern of Rumos Itaú Cultural Cinema e Video, focusing on an effective policy of development for the sector. The launching, at this edition of the Festival, of a work supported by the program, closes the circle of reflection, production and exhibition of the genre, which is the supporting "tripod" of our larger objectives. In 2001, Rumos Itaú Cultural Cinema e Video opens another edition. We expect to see, at the next Festival, other films benefited by this program. RICARDO RIBENBOIM Director of Itaú Cultural