Manuel Matos Barbosa
Directing
Biography
Manuel Matos Barbosa was born in Oliveira de Azeméis in 1935. At the age of 19, he joined the local film club, and in 1958 he bought his first 8mm film camera. He was part of the “Grupo de Aveiro” in the 1960s, a group of amateur filmmakers responsible for a significant body of films during that decade, and he was involved in organizing the 1st Congress of Portuguese Amateur Cinema, held in 1970. From 1977 onwards, he was a member of the Organizing Committee of Cinanima, the Espinho International Animated Film Festival.
Known For
Vicente was a mean old man, short of words. In his collection, he lacked the pyx of mercy he so admired.
O Antiquário
The expressive power of a craft that shapes generations. Directed by Matos Barbosa, Vidros is a striking work that captures, with rare sensitivity, the harshness of labor, the intensity of hard work, and the beauty of blown glass in Oliveira de Azeméis. Set to the immersive rhythm of Django Reinhardt’s jazz, the film transforms repetitive gestures, heat, and the fragility of the material into pure cinematic expression, preserving the memory of a craft that spans generations. More than a documentary, Vidros immortalizes a memory—a visual testimony to the dedication, rhythm, and poetry hidden within the art of glassmaking, seen through the eyes of our filmmaker.
Vidros
Romaria is a documentary that explores the pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Health, in São Pedro de Castelões. It portrays pilgrims of faith, of commerce, of music, and of everything that remains afterward.
Romaria
O Moinho is an ethnographic documentary about flour production. In this film, Manuel Matos Barbosa explores the mills along the banks of the Ul River.
O Moinho
A Um Emigrante is a documentary that uses the figure of the writer Ferreira de Castro to return to his birthplace, Ossela, and uncover the meaning of his words, the struggle of a people, and the admiration that Oliveira de Azeméis holds for him.