The Rio 2016 opening and closing ceremonies are to cost ten times less than those in London 2012, according to the team of directors.
The opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro next year will cost ten times less than those in London 2012, the team of directors announced on Tuesday (September 22) as the group met in the host city to discuss the plans, which still remain largely under wraps. He said the plans would be the right match for the host city.
Among those at the helm is Brazilian film director Fernando Meirelles who rose to international fame off the back of his favela action movie “City of God” in 2002.
Alongside him is carnival director, Rosa Magalhaes, who has won five championships with several samba schools since 1984, national film directors Andrucha Waddington and Daniela Thomas, and set designer Abel Gomes, who led the ceremonies for the 2007 Pan-American Games in Brazil and the annual New Year celebrations on Copacabana Beach.
Meirelles said that a large budget for the ceremonies would not make sense amid deepening political and economic crises in Brazil, which saw the currency fall to an all time low against the dollar on Tuesday.
“We are working with a budget which is ten times less than that of the opening ceremony in London, but this is not a limitation for us, there is no drama. It does not make sense for Brazil to put on a spectacular ceremony pumped with money, at a time in which the country doesn’t have decent sanitation. Bangu (a region in Rio de Janeiro) doesn’t have sanitation, so we can’t spend the fortune that was spent in Beijing and in London. So I think it is good sense and sensitive to the country that we put together something which has a good concept, is in good taste, and has a good message, without breaking the bank. It is not ‘high-tech’ it is ‘high-concept,'” said Meirelles.
The directors were keen to point out that the fall of the real would not lead to a drawing back on the ceremonies, as the materials had already been acquired.
What had been bought and how it would be used, however, remains undisclosed.
The general message was that performances would reflect Brazilian culture without falling to caricature, which in Meirelles’s view presents a real challenge when it comes to the global stage.
Another challenge for Meirelles is the structural layout of the Maracana football stadium where the 2014 FIFA World Cup opening and closing ceremonies were held, and where the ceremonies would take place next year.
He said that performances and installations around the edge of the pitch would obstruct the view for spectators, but said he would channel his architectural experience to try and overcome this.
“These logistical limits force us to come together to find solutions, so I am very happy with that. I think that the idea some people have to carry out a second round of reforms in the Maracana stadium would be a waste of money, for the same reasons. We have to adapt and be creative with what we have got. The logistics inside the Maracana are extremely limiting, and we spend so much time trying to overcome these difficulties and find solutions,” said Meirelles.
The team was asked about the possibility of booing during the ceremonies, repeating scenes in which former FIFA President Sepp Blatter and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff were booed in the opening ceremony of the World Cup.
The World Cup was preceded by widespread anger over public spending on the Games, and discontent continues to spread throughout the South American country as the government fails to gain control of the public deficit amid a multibillion dollar corruption scandal.
Thomas rebuffed the concern, however, insisting that the Olympic spirit would transcend such feeling.
“The Olympics live on, politics pass. The boos, the applause, the ups and downs, the dances are all welcome in our show,” Thomas told reporters.
The team gave few details of what the ceremonies would contain, insisting on an element of surprise.
“Carnival in the Sambadrome is one thing, other carnivals are another. I can’t say anymore because he is giving me bad looks,” said Magalhaes.
Auditions for the 12,000 spaces for volunteers to take part in the ceremonies will take place in April, with applications open online until September 30. Singers, dancers, skaters and cyclists have been encouraged to apply. (Reuters)