By order of Milei, INCAA shuts doors, puts staff on leave

President Javier Milei has ordered the closing of the INCAA national film institute as his ‘chainsaw’ plan of public spending cuts deepens. Staff at the National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts have been placed on mandatory leave until further notice as the body’s new boss ahead of an internal reorganisation, it emerged Monday.

Workers will be relocated and given new functions, said government sources, who said details of INCAA’S redesign would be revealed shortly.

“Until officers are relocated, based on their technical and professional skills in terms of the needs of the new structure, we communicate that, effective immediately, they need not go to INCAA offices and their services will not be required,” read an internal email to staff shared with local media.

INCAA is a non-governmental public entity aimed at fostering audiovisual productions in Argentina. It currently sits under the Culture Secretariat within the orbit of the Human Capital Ministry and has 645 employees, some 500 of them permanent staff.

Among the films that have benefitted from its support are eight Oscar nominees, including Best International Feature winners El Secreto de Sus Ojos (“The Secret in Their Eyes,” 2009) and La Historia Oficial (“The Official Story”).

INCAA’S temporary closure comes in the middle of the 25th BAFICI International Buenos Aires Independent Cinema Festival, which runs until tomorrow.

Sources from the institute told the Noticias Argentinas news agency that BAFICI events organised with INCAA’S support, including a number of screenings at the historic Gaumont Theatre, would go ahead.

Local media reports suggest that the institution’s new organisation chart will see the number of INCAA departments halved, trimmed from eight to four. A number of reforms to the institute, including funding cutbacks, are outlined in Milei’s ‘Omnibus’/’ley de Bases’ reform bill, which is currently under debate in Congerss.