Manoel de Oliveira : ‘O Velho do Restelo,’ a Reflection About Mankind (EXCLUSIVE)

105, the great Portuguese filmmaker talks exclusively to Variety about his latest film, plans to keep on filming, the defeats that come with victory

Manoel de Oliveira, the world’s oldest working film director, who turns 106 this December, had the world premiere of his most recent work, the 19-minute short film “The Old Man of Belem” in this year’s Venice Film Festival.
The film is produced by Lisbon-based production house, O Som e a Furia , in co-production with the French distributor, Epicentre Films, that has distributed Oliveira’s films in France since 2008.
Screening in the 29^th Mar del Plata Festival, the film includes hallmark features of a Manoel de Oliveira film, in which four characters meet in a garden and develop a profound exploration of what it means to be human.
Enigmatic, with a haunting score composed by José Luís Borges Coelho, the short is stripped to the bare bones of filmmaking – a discussion between four characters – but its strength lies in the power of its dialogue, although its themes will strike many as esoteric.
In the words of the film’s press release: “the glories of the past and the uncertainty of the future will be thoroughly discussed.”

Variety,USA.