Brazil’s economy may be cooling and international travel remains expensive for local cinema professionals, but you would have had a hard time detecting much pessimism at this year’s Expocine.

The São Paulo convention drew more than 2,800 registrants, up from a record 2,300 badge holders last year, while its trade show has grown from just 24 exhibiting brands in 2023 to more than 60. The expansion forced organizers to move the exhibition floor into a larger venue across the famed Avenida Paulista from Cine Marquise, where distributors and studios presented upcoming slates.

Expocine bills itself as Latin America’s largest cinema-industry gathering, though its center of gravity remains decidedly Brazilian. Participation from elsewhere in the region has historically been more uneven, but that is not necessarily a weakness. For many Brazilian exhibitors, distributors and vendors, flying to CinemaCon in Las Vegas or CineEurope in Barcelona can be prohibitively expensive. Expocine gives one of the world’s largest theatrical markets a major industry gathering of its own.

It also arrives as Brazilian cinema is enjoying unusual momentum of its own. Films such as “I’m Still Here” and “The Secret Agent” have earned international recognition while helping increase the domestic market share of Brazilian productions. These are necessary ingredients for a healthy cinema market, which requires more than imported studio films and functioning multiplexes. It also needs local films, local distributors, local expertise and a place for the people running the business to meet.

Judging by Expocine 2026, Brazil currently has plenty of all four.