The Law of Cinema (Lei do Cinema,
Law no. 55/2012, of 19th of May, amended by
Law no. 28/2014, of 19th of May), which establishes the principles of State action in the framework of the promotion, development and protection of the art of cinema and the audiovisual and cinematographic activities, defines in Articles 6 and 7 the objectives of the programmes aimed at financing the cinematographic and audiovisual activity as well as the nature of the financial support granted under it.
Decree-Law no. 124/2013, of 30th of August, which regulates the Law of Cinema, identifies the programmes and sub-programmes of financial support and determines the terms and conditions of their attribution, developed in the General Regulation on Financial Support Programmes Financial and their Annexes.
It is the responsibility of ICA to award financial support annually through a public tender, publicized through an advertisement published in two general information newspapers, nationally and widely circulated, and also published on the ICA’s official website.
In each contest, the selection of the projects is done by a jury, annually approved by SECA - Specialized Section of the Cinema and Audiovisual of the National Council of Culture (Secção Especializada do Cinema e do Audiovisual do Conselho Nacional de Cultura), chosen from personalities of recognized curriculum, capacity and suitability and recognized cultural merit.
ICA is responsible for deciding the allocation of the financial amounts, according to the ordered list of classification of the projects, approved by the respective jury.
ICA is responsible for monitoring and evaluating the application of this support, in accordance with the regulations specific to each programme, sub-programme or measure. The Institute has the following management elements:
- Multi-year Strategic Plan, approved by ICA, after the Specialized Section and after approval of the member of the Government responsible for the area of culture;
- Annual declaration of priorities, approved by ICA, containing:
- the amount available for each support programme, broken down by sub-programme, modality and category;
- the maximum value of support per project;
- the number of invitations to tender;
- the deadlines for the submission of applications.
