Weekly Report - 16 January 2020 (WR-20-02)

The nomination of the Brazilian production ‘The edge of democracy’ for best documentary feature at the Academy Awards, announced on 13 January, prompted reactions from politicians of all colours in Brazil. Following on from the attempted censorship last week of a comedy depicting Jesus as gay, this has revived deep politico-cultural divides in the country. It is also indicative of the important role that cultural issues have come to play under President Jair Bolsonaro, whose government has given centre-stage to a conservative moral agenda and exploited the country’s culture wars to its advantage.