“Sfrankly it is an aberration, there is a lack of institutional will. (…) The year in which there is more money in Portuguese cinema, thanks to the capture of national operators and international platforms, is a kind of replica of the ‘year zero’ of Portuguese cinema”, Fernando Vendrell, from the Association of Film and Audiovisual Producers (APCA).
Seven industry associations, including APCA, signed a joint statement, released today, in which they protest the delays in opening the 2023 competitions to support cinema and audiovisual, which are the responsibility of the Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual (ICA ) and which, in recent years, have been open between February and March.
“Apparently, the causes of the delay are related to the delay in the process of approval of the ordinance on the extension of charges, by the Ministry of Finance, mandatory budgetary procedures and prior to the opening of tenders”, they write in the statement.
According to producer and director Fernando Vendrell, from the APCA board, this year there will be around 30 million euros for the different support contests.
This figure should represent a substantial increase compared to the 22.9 million euros in the 2022 tender plan, as it should already include, for example, the collection of the fee applied to audiovisual service operators on demand by subscription, such as ‘ streaming’.
The amount was revealed by the ICA on March 2 at a meeting of the Specialized Section for Cinema and Audiovisual (SECA), in which the institute presented the declaration of priorities to the sector’s representatives.
“After a month and a half (from the SECA meeting), the tenders continue, inexplicably, to open. (…) With this delay in the opening of the tenders, we risk that it will be a completely lost year”, lament the associations.
Fernando Vendrell adds that this delay means that candidates for the competitions will only see results and have access to funding in 2024, given the length of the processes.
Hence, the producer compares this delay to the “year zero” of Portuguese cinema, recalling that in 2012 there were no competitions due to the inability to finance the ICA.
In the communiqué, the associations appeal to “the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Culture to work towards, urgently, approving the necessary procedures for opening the ICA tenders for 2023, completing all the missing procedures”.
The statement is signed by the Portuguese Association of Screenwriters and Playwrights, the Association of Cinema and Audiovisual Producers, the Association of Independent Television Producers, the Portuguese Association of Animation Producers, the Portuguese Association of Directors, the Portuguese Federation of Cineclubes and by the Independent Film Producers Association .
ICA’s financial support calls for tenders are divided into several sub-tenders, which cover film and audiovisual production, script writing, production of audiovisual series or even support for internationalization and audience training.
The Lusa agency requested further clarification from both the ICA and the Ministry of Culture, this morning, about the delays in tenders, and did not receive a timely response.
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