Fire erupts at warehouse of Brazil’s national film institute

The warehouse is owned by the national film institute, Cinemateca, and houses South America’s largest collection of films.

A government warehouse storing movies, documents and antique projectors from Brazil’s film industry caught fire Thursday night in Sao Paulo. The fire department said 15 fire vehicles and 50 firefighters were at the site trying to prevent the flames from spreading to a larger area of the building. The warehouse is owned by the national film institute, Cinemateca, and houses South America’s largest collection of films, some made of cellulose nitrate, a highly flammable material. The films in the warehouse were copies for exhibition, not originals, and the extent of the loss wasn’t immediately clear.