103-year-old Portuguese director Manuel de Oliveira, the oldest active film director, left hospital on Friday where he had been detained for a week due to a lung problem, the institution's management announced on Thursday.
The cardiology department at the Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho Hospital Center near Porto (northern Portugal) indicated that “Manuel de Oliveira has recovered well” and is leaving the hospital “without any sign of infection.”
The Portuguese Lusa agency said that the director left the hospital in a wheelchair, accompanied by his relatives.
Since his first film Douro, River Work in 1931, Manuel de Oliveira has shot around fifty feature films and documentaries. His last film released in cinemas, “The Strange Case of Angélique,” was shown two years ago at the Cannes Film Festival.
The director recently shot a 20-minute short film in Guimarães (near Porto), the 2012 European Capital of Culture.
His latest film, “Gebo and the Shadow,” a comedy-drama adapted from the play of the same name by Portuguese Raul Brandão, with Michael Lonsdale, Claudia Cardinale and Jeanne Moreau, is scheduled to be screened at the upcoming Venice Film Festival.
