Manoel de Oliveira

Manoel Cndido Pinto de Oliveira GCSE, GCIH was a Portuguese film director and screenwriter born in Cedofeita, Porto. He first began making films in 1927, when he and some friends attempted to make a film about World War I. In 1931 he completed his first film Douro, Faina Fluvial, a documentary about his home city Porto made in the city symphony genre. He made his feature film debut in 1942 with AnikiBb and continued to make shorts and documentaries for the nextyears, gaining a minimal amount of recognition without being considered a major world film director. Among the numerous factors that prevented Oliveira from making more films during this time period were the political situation in Portugal, family obligations and money.

Oliveira was born onDecember 1908 in Porto, Portugal, to Francisco Jos de Oliveira and Cndida Ferreira Pinto. His family were wealthy industrialists and agricultural landowners. His father owned a drygoods factory, produced the first electric light bulbs in Portugal and built an electric energy plant before he died in 1932. Oliveira was educated at the Colegio Universal in Porto before attending a Jesuit boarding school in Galicia, Spain. As a teenager his goal was to become an actor. At 17, he joined his brothers as an executive in his fathers factories, where he remained for the majority of his adult life when not making films. In a 1981 Sight and Sound article, John Gillett describes Oliveira as having spent most of his life in business160... making films only when circumstances allowed.

Source: Wikipedia