Besides international films which have won awards at Cannes and other festivals, Rio de Janeiro´s current International Film Festival has some fascinating seminars including one I attended on Tuesday about Dubbing Films and TV series.
The 90 minute talk complete with a lively Q & A session was led by the Dubber of the film “Barbie” among others, Brazil´s Flavia Fontenelle .
@flavitchaf,45 as Flavia calls herself on Instagram, is a veteran of 35 years in the profession of dubbing which has included Tv soap operas and series including the “Handmaid´s Tale,” cartoons and internationally- renowned movies.
She told her audience that “dubbing here is the same as in the USA only to appease the Brazilian TV viewer or moviegoer ‘Acapulco (Mexico) may become Grajau (northern Rio de Janeiro).”
Like many other professions, dubbing which began in the late 1920s with the invention of ‘talking movies,” and in 1927 in Brazil with the dubbing of “Snow White,” is threatened by Artificial Intelligence.
To think that this cheerful group of fifty will have their current or future livelihoods threatened or even cut off in the future by Artificial Intelligence is very sad, were this observer’s thoughts as I looked around at the veteran and aspirant Brazilian dubbers.
Checking internet, a researcher discovers that a professional in Brazil earns currently 55 reais or about eleven dollars an hour.
In comparison, the US pays dubbers 28 dollars an hour.
It is a profession which requires lots of patience, preparation and even acting experience to dub in Portuguese the likes of Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sandra Bullock, Meryl Streep or Mickey Mouse.
As Flavia demonstrated Artificial Intelligence´s dubbing currently is indeed imperfect and almost impossible to understand.
But unfortunately for the dubbing profession ” AI” predictably will be improved hopefully not to replace entirely human voices.
An example of a member of the enthusiastic audience dubbing a line in a Whoopi Goldberg film was included in another entertaining and informative seminar at the FestivaldoRio´s headquarters in Gloria, downtown Rio de Janeiro.