Workshops in Brazil

In 1981, a workshop had been set up with the "Nùcleo de Documentação Cinematografica" of the Federal University of Paraíba in João Pessõa with twelve trainees. Some of these trainees later came to Paris to follow a course to perfect their skills. The "Nùcleo de Documentação Cinematografica" continued its exchanges with the Ateliers Varan for many years and today still carries out its filmmaking and training activities.

In 2011, a two-week course was held in the Department of Social Communication at the Federal University of Pernambuco in Recife with the support of the Gulbenkian Foundation. Six film sketches were made on the subject of water.

In 2016, a Documentary Filmmaking Workshop lasting 7 weeks was organised in Recife in north east Brasil, in the State of Pernambuco. The course, entitled « H2O Ciné Recife », was held for ten trainees from the region. The French Ile-de-France region, the Agence Française de Développement, (French Development Agency), and the town of Nantes were the main sources of funding for the project, while the French Consulate in Recife, the Midia Porto (site on which the workshop was promoted), the Committee for the Hydrographic Basins and Proa Cultura were the local partners.

These films were shown in the Doc Cévennes Festival in May 2017, in the Autres Brésil Festival in Paris, in the Curious Travellers Festival in Saint-Etienne, and in the World Forum on Water in Brasilia in March 2018.