Biography

Manuel Costa e Silva was born on March 19, 1938 in Lisbon, Portugal. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Moura Encantada (1985), J'aurais jamais dû croiser son regard... (1989) and The Accompanist (1992). He died on January 25, 1999 in Lisbon, Portugal.

In the late 1960s, studied at IDHEC, Paris, France.

Krzysztof Kieślowski was the writer/director invited to a workhop organized by Manuel Costa e Silva in the Festroia International Film Festival (Portugal, 1994) with Jacques Witta as a film editor assigned, hosted by Fernando Lopes and with José Manuel Alves Pereira and Emanuel AG as participants among a few others.

Founded and organized the Amascultura International Film Festival of Malaposta (Odivelas, Lisbon) which under his rule became the most important Portuguese event dedicated to the documentary film, one of his biggest passions.

His work participated in a film retrospective to celebrate the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution / 25 April 1974 military coup, from a bunch of selected filmmakers to tell the story of the cinema of that period (both filmmakers Manuel Costa e Silva and Fernando Lopes used to work to each other were two of them), conjointly a photography exhibition with work of Eduardo Gageiro, José Antunes and Alfredo Cunha, a program organized by Emanuel AG as one of the organizers of the Curtas Vila do Conde 2nd International Film Festival, who still considers him one of the most prominent Lisbon Film School's masters of this reputable education institution and place of graduation for most part of the Portuguese filmmaking community, where both met once again in the late '90s during the final year and a half of Costa e Silva's life.

Known by his rigorous approach to the craft and cinematography, he was not only a highly regarded instructor but as a perfectionist director of photography, he was used to make his setups last more than the usual in the industry, regularly much cared and sophisticated with many meticulous technical resources as far as possible to invariably result in brilliant photography.