The filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira died early this morning at 106 years. He was the oldest director in activity in all the history of Cinema. In his career he directed more than 30 feature films. Still aren't known more details about his death, but were public some recurring respiratory problems, which forced him to be hospitalized. The news of his death, Master, as he was known, Manoel de Oliveira, shocked Portugal, which has been deployed in unpretentious tributes on social networks.
Born in Porto, December 11, 1908, were still the King Manuel II was ruling the Portuguese monarchy, Manoel de Oliveira grew up in a bourgeois family. He was the son of the first lighting manufacturer in Portugal.
Very young Manoel de Oliveira went to study in Galicia, at a Jesuit college. "I was never a good student," he admitted several times. Dedicated to sport, he was national champion in the pole vault.
He was always a bohemian, like any good art lover, and was famous the the long and very interesting gatherings at the Cafe Diana, in Póvoa de Varzim, along with his well known friends, Jose Régio and Agustina Bessa-Luís.
Soon Manoel de Oliveira was captivated by the cinema. At 20 years old he went to Rino Lupo actors school, an Italian living in Porto and one of the first national fiction filmmakers. In 1931, aged 23, directed his first Film, Douro, Faina Fluvial, a short film.
As an actor he starred in A canção de Lisboa (1933), but he wasn't very enthusiastic about the popular genre. In 1942 debuts his first masterpiece, Aniki-Bobo, a childhood portrait of Ribeira boys in Porto.
The film was an huge commercial failure, but it is now part of the portuguese cinema history. However, it was one of the reasons why Oliveira took about 21 years to make another feature film. That would happen only in 1963 with the Acto da primavera.
From 1971 how often he presented new work is almost unbelievable: 43 movies between O passado e o presente (1971) and O velho do Restelo (2014), directed by Manoel de Olveira at 105 years old!