Portugal's National Film Institute ICAM has appointed a new president in the midst of an industry-wide controversy concerning the funding body's outstanding debts.

Elisio Cabral de Oliveira was appointed to replace long-time ICAM president Pedro Berhan da Costa, who resigned late last month amid multiple back-and-forth accusations of incompetence with the country's Ministry of Culture.

But a lobbying group calling itself the "Platform for the Creation of an Audiovisual Industry" and representing more than a dozen companies, is still calling for "emergency measures" to support struggling producers who say ICAM owes them millions of dollars.