Three film commissions regions, from the Centre, Arrábida and Alentejo and Ribatejo, this Wednesday expressed concern about the future of the Portugal Film Commission (PFC) and asked the Government for further clarification on this mission structure, which ends its functions on Friday.
In an open letter now released, those three entities want to see clarified the solution to continue the PFC, considering that the project “may be truly essential to the creation of an economic pillar arising from the film sector”.
In the document, they speak of a “climate of great uncertainty” and disagree with a hypothetical decision to integrate the PFC into the structure of the Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual (ICA) and thus end the “interministerial relationship” with the Ministry of Economy and Portugal Tourism.
The PFC was created in 2019 with several objectives, including promoting the country “as an international destination for film production” and proposing a definitive model for a future Portugal Film Commission. This mission structure had a duration of three years – from May 2019 to May 2022 – but an extension until the end of this year was approved.
Last week, a few days after this mission structure ceased its functions, the executive director, Sandra Neves, admitted to the Lusa agency that she did not know what would happen from January 1, 2023. “I did not receive any invitation to leave or to I also can’t say if I’m available to stay or leave, because I don’t know what the future idea is for the project”, he said, a week ago.
One day after these statements, the Ministries of Economy and Culture revealed, in a statement, the intention to “reinforce the role” of the PFC, without further details, and to evaluate the Support Fund for Tourism and Cinema, an incentive mechanism that relates to that structure.
Last week, in response to questions sent by the Lusa agency, an official source from the Ministry of Culture said that it is up to that mission structure “to collaborate with members of the Government in collecting and providing information on the institutional and governance model for the PFC” and that it would be “announced in due course” what will happen after January 1, 2023.
At film commissions do Centro, Arrábida and Alentejo and Ribatejo say that the current PFC mission structure “can be extended for another year”, to accompany “the life time” of the Support Fund for Tourism and Cinema, whose term ends in 2023.
The open letter from those regional structures was sent to the Ministers of Culture, Pedro Adão e Silva, and Economy, António Costa Silva, to the Secretary of State for Tourism, Nuno Fazenda, and to the parties with parliamentary seats.
.