APRO Changes Management and Renews National Board

APRO – Brazilian Association of Production Companies announces a new cycle in its management, with changes in the composition of the board.

From the new statute of the entity, the position of chairman of the Board of Counselors becomes extinct. As a novelty, APRO will have an executive presidency/CEO. In turn, the National Board renews its staff with 21 directors.

Marianna Souza, executive manager at FilmBrazil, the international division of APRO in association with Apex-Brasil, takes over as executive president/ CEO. She will accumulate the functions, institutionally representing the association and in charge of the operational and administrative activities of APRO, putting into practice the Council's deliberations in areas as advertising, branded content, training and training of audiovisual managers, besides the management of the Forum of Ad Production and WHEXT festival.

Paulo Roberto Schmidt, who owns Academia de Filmes Production Company, leaves the Association presidency, but will continue as a member of the National Board. With the restructuring, Executive Director Sonia Regina Piassa, at APRO since 2002, disconnects from the entity, taking all her experience of more than three decades in the ad film production industry to consulting projects.

According to Mr. Schmidt, the changes are aimed at meeting new needs in the face of an increasingly dynamic market: "The challenges are enormous and APRO continues to train its associated producers for the transformation of advertising production, given the new ways of brands to communicate with their consumers and the public. Content, technology, format and language will be common in the narrative of brand communication. An entity that has been acting for almost five decades in favour of the quality of audiovisual production must be in constant updating process." Otherwise, Paulo R. Schmidt highlights the contribution of Sonia Regina Piassa throughout the process, always with her work and strong dedication in defense of associates and Brazilian audiovisual production.

Marianna Souza has been with APRO since 2007. She considers the new challenge very stimulating and thinks it matches with a new stage of her career, always focused on activities of the creative economy. "I am grateful for the confidence of all associated producers expressed through the Council's decision, and I cannot fail to mention the apprenticeship that I have had with Sonia Regina Piassa, Paulo Schmidt and Leyla Fernandes (who chaired the Administration by 2015) through all these years at APRO. Now, it is time to continue working for a proper valorization of the national production, both in the domestic and in the international markets.”

Graduated in International Relations, Marianna holds a Master's Degree in Business Administration of Entertainment from the Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing (ESPM). She began her career with the Brazilian Agency for the Promotion of Exports and Investments (Apex-Brasil), where she worked in the team responsible for managing projects related to the creative economy, promoting business between Brazilian and international companies in various cultural segments. At APRO, she was at the frontline in the format of several strategic partnerships, such as Sebrae Nacional and Instituto Criar. As Executive Manager of FilmBrazil, she is responsible for initiatives at major international festivals such as Cannes Lions; D&AD; SXSW. In Brazil, she takes care of curatorial and executive production of WHEXT. She is also a local ambassador for FreeTheBid, a movement that preaches gender diversity in the direction of advertising that has support from APRO in Brazil.

1. Caito Cyrillo – Trio

2. Carolina Dantas – Landia

3. Cristina Lopes – Conspiração 

4. Eduardo Tibiriçá Machado – Bossa Nova

5. Egisto Betti – Paranoid

6. Francesco Civita – Pródigo

7. Gustavo Gripe – Santa Transmidia

8. Ingrid Razl – Stink

9. Hugo Janeba – Mixer

10. Julia Tavares – Killer 

11. Leyla Fernandes – Produtora Associados

12. Luciana Pessoa – Consulado

13. Marcelo Altschuler – Saigon

14. Marcos Araújo – Sentimental 

15. Mario Peixoto – Delica

16. Paulo Roberto Schmidt – Academia de Filmes

17. Raul Dória – Cine

18. Rejane Bicca – O2

19. Sergio Sousa Salles – Vetor Zero

20. Waldemar Tamagno  – Alice 

21. Zahra Staub – Awake Filmes