
The new vice-president of the ICA’s board, who will serve a five-year term, was selected through an open competition launched on May 28 by the Commission for Recruitment and Selection for Public Administration (CReSAP), as announced in a statement by the oversight body. The competition concluded on June 11.
“The recognition of the appointee’s technical competence, strategic sensitivity, aptitude, experience, education, and comprehensive vision of Cinema and Audiovisual were decisive in the selection for the position,” the statement reads.
Manuel Claro served as the director-general of the Portugal Film Commission from 2019 to 2022, as the executive coordinator of the Creative Europe Information Centre at the ICA from 2014 to 2019, and as the executive coordinator of the Media Desk Portugal Association from 2009 to 2013.
Manuel Claro will replace Anick Bilreiro as the vice-president of the ICA, who had assumed the position in January 2023 on an interim basis.
The ICA is chaired by Luís Chaby Vaz, whose service commission was renewed by the government in September 2023.
In the role since May 2017, initially serving on an interim basis for over a year, Chaby Vaz was formally appointed as ICA president in November 2018 for a five-year term.
Chaby Vaz led the ICA during a period of increased foreign interest in filming in Portugal and has held the position of ‘film commissioner’ of the Portugal Film Commission since February 2023, an organization aiming to promote the country on the cinematic map.