The Motion Picture Association – América Latina (MPA-AL) is the regional office of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) located in São Paulo, Brazil. It covers 34 territories in North, Central and South America, and the Caribbean (excluding Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, the Bahamas and Bermuda), spanning two continents of approximately 480 million people. The MPA-AL protects and defends the interests of its member companies in each distribution sector – theatrical, television, pay TV, home entertainment, digital and new technologies – through activities aimed at the improvement of market access and the protection of intellectual property rights.

The MPA-AL also works closely with national film institutes and other local government agencies to promote regulatory frameworks that foster the expansion of film industry activities and co-production of national films. The MPA-AL maintains local offices in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Panama, and works through representatives and legal counsel in other Latin American territories.

For many years, MPA-Latin America has maintained an active program of seminars and workshops aimed at training both professionals and students in the audiovisual sector, as well as in the area of intellectual property rights. Recent examples include: The Life of a Film in Two Days (São Paulo, 2005), Seminar on U.S. Independent Filmmaking (Mexico City, 2005); SGAE-MPA Tutorial in Feature Length Screenwriting (Madrid, 2004); Seminar on Film Production for Mexican Professionals (Mexico City, 2004), Film Project Development Workshop and Competition (Miami, 2004) and Production workshop for Professional Producers in Mercosul and Rio Grande do Sul (Porto Alegre, 2002).

Latin America Anti-Piracy Update

MPA-Latin America Web site