On 15 December 2018, in the framework of the European Film Awards in Seville the members of the European Film Agency Directors (EFADs) Board elected the new President and Vice-President of the association with a 2 year mandate:

• President: Luis Chaby Vaz, President of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual of Portugal;
• Vice-President: Edith Sepp, CEO of the Estonian Film Institute.

“It is a great honor to have been elected President of the EFADs. We are all extremely grateful for all the work done over the last 4 years under Peter Dinges Presidency which has enabled the association to make its voice heard on the European scene. We will continue on this path with energy and determination to promote cultural diversity and the vitality of European audiovisual creation.” declared Luis Chaby Vaz.

“I am delighted to have been elected as EFADs’ Vice-President and to play my part in strengthening our common aims for European film in the coming years and in addressing the opportunities and challenges that film – both industry and culture – faces across Europe,” said Edith Sepp

The EFADs is the voice of European public film agencies bringing together bodies from 31 countries in Europe (EU Member States of the EU, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland). Initially set up as an informal network, it was formally established in Brussels in December 2014.

The new Board, elected in September 2018 in San Sebastian, is composed of:

Ms Doreen Boonekamp	Director, Netherlands Film Fund	The Netherlands
Ms Jeanne Brunfaut	Director General, Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Centre du cinéma et de l’audiovisuel  (CCA) and managing director of the EFADs	Belgium
Mr Guy Daleiden	Director, Luxembourg, Film Fund	Luxemburg
Mr Peter Dinges	CEO of the German Federal Film Board (FFA)	Germany
Ms Chiara Fortuna	International Affairs, Directorate General Cinema, Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities	Italy
Mr James Hickey	Chief Executive, Irish Film Board	Ireland
Ms Julie-Jeanne Régnault	Deputy Director European Affairs, CNC	France
Ms Edith Sepp	CEO of the Estonian Film Institute, Vice-President of the EFADs	Estonia
Mr Roland Teichmann	Director, Austrian Film Institute	Austria
Ms Nataša Bučar	Managing Director, Slovenian Film Center	Slovenia
Mr Lasse Saarinen	Managing Director, Finnish Film Foundation	Finland
Mr Luis Chaby Vaz	President of the Board of Directors, Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual, President of the EFADs	Portugal

Short biographies of the President and Vice-President

Luís Chaby Vaz is since June 2017, President of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual of Portugal. He began his professional activity in 1993 as a lawyer before entering the cultural sector where he held several public management positions. He also worked in the Advertising industry and in the movie post production sector as CEO of Tobis. He was the Cultural Counselor of the Portuguese Embassy in Spain between 2010 and 2013. After that, he worked in a venture capital firm and as a private consultant.

Edith Sepp has been the CEO of the Estonian Film Institute since 2013. She started her film career in the early 1990s as an assistant director. After graduating with an MA in film and TV drama from the Northern Media School in UK, she worked in the film/TV industry as a film director and producer. In 2010, she became a film adviser to the Estonian Minister of Culture and lead the creation of the Estonian Film Institute’s 2013-2020 strategy. She has been a member of EFADs’ board since 2014 and she has chaired the EFADs Think-Tank since 2015.