Francisco Manso

He graduated in law at the University of Lisbon. Then in 1976, he graduated film at Centro de Arte e Comunicação Visual (Ar.Co) and in 1979 to 1980, Manso completed courses in sound engineering and became the assistant director at the public television service Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP).[3]

In 1978, he joined cinema as the first assistant director for the film O Meu Nome É directed by Fernando Matos Silva. Then he joined the film O Príncipe com Orelhas de Burro directed by António de Macedo in 1979. In 1980, he moved to Guinea Bissau and worked in the film Acto dos Feitos da Guiné which was directed by Matos Silva. Later in the next year he returned to Portugal and joined with Matos Silva's 1981 film Guerra no Mirandum.

The film Director, Francisco Manso (second from left) along with the actor Vitor Norte, the producer, Jose Mazeda and the composer Henri Seroka addressing a press conference during the 42nd International Film Festival of India (IFFI-2011)

After the assistant works for many years, Manso made his first direction in 1983 with the television documentary A Epopeia dos Bacalhaus. In the meantime, he also cut his first television feature film, Terra Nova, Mar Velho in the same year. With the success of that film, he continued to direct films and documentaries in the following years such as, A Aposta (1987), Na Mão de Deus(1989), Nostalgia (1994) and O Espírito da Cor (1994).[4]

In 1997, Manso produced his first cinema feature film O Testamento do Senhor Napomuceno. The film was based on the novel The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo by Germano Almeida about the Cape Verde Islands. The film was distributed internationally and was screened at various film festivals as well as received several awards, including three awards at the Gramado Film Festival. In 2000, he made the TV mini-series Almeida Garrett. His documentary Memórias de um rio - Avieiros, os nómadas do Tejo in 2004, was awarded the special prize for Lusophony at the 10th Environmental Film Festival - Cine Eco 2004.[4]

In his following films he mostly used historical events, such as 2008 film O Último Condenado à Morte, which took place at the time of the Liberal Revolution in Portugal occurred in 1821/22. In 2011 he made the film O Cônsul de Bordéus, which was based on the life of Aristides de Sousa Mendes and his services to humanity during the persecution of the Jews.[5]

• Portuguese Colonial War
• List of Portuguese films of 2008
• List of Portuguese films of 2010

• Francisco Manso at IMDb
• Francisco Manso
• A Ilha dos Escravos/Slave Island (2008): An Interview with Francisco Manso