Portugal is a vintage filmmaker

Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal’s renown filmmaker, turned 100 years old recently and he did it while doing what he loves—making another film.  The filmmaker and producer has created 46 feature-length films. His latest film, “The Uniqueness of a Young Blond-Haired Girl” is adapted from a tale by Jose Maria Eca de Queiroz, considered Portugal’s greatest realist writer.  It recounts the story of Macario, a young man — played by Oliveira’s grandson Ricardo Trepa — who confides his passionate love for a blond-haired girl to a stranger on a train. Oliveira’s films have won many prizes at major festivals like Cannes and Venice. In May he was awarded the coveted Palme d’Or at Cannes for his entire body of work, which spans silent films to talkies and survived the country’s long-time, right-wing dictatorship. The filmmaker’s latest film is being shot in Lisbon’s Chiado district.