New film law proposal rejected in parliament

by Vitor Pinto

16/01/2012 - The bill for the new film law, submitted by the Socialist party, was rejected last Friday in Portugal’s parliament, with votes against from the centre-right parties PSD and CDS-PP, which have made up the parliamentary majority since June 2011.

The proposal, which envisaged an expansion of the funding system and introduced direct investment, was similar to the one that had been prepared during the final months of the Socialist government (whose Prime Minister resigned in March 2011), when the country still had a Culture Ministry, headed by Gabriela Canavilhas, who was one of the parliament members who defended the new bill (see news).

In the opinion of parliament member Ana Sofia Bettencourt (PSD), the bill was laudable because it aimed to increase the sector’s funding sources but “it did so in a way that violated the law and the constitution”.

The State Department for Culture, headed by journalist-writer Francisco José Viegas, announced in December that the new law drawn up by the PSD/CDS-PP government is ready and will be debated in February.

(Translated from Spanish)