Francisco Xavier

Biography

In 1879, the northern Portuguese town of Vila Real welcomed Francisco Xavier into the world—an arrival that would later help usher Portuguese cinema onto the screen. Within four whirlwind years he both produced and performed in Portugal’s first home-grown fiction features: the rustic comedy *A Mulher do Chiqueiro* and the domestic gag *Os Óculos do Vovô*, both released in 1913, followed by the swamp-set thriller *O Crime dos Banhados* in 1914. His story closed in 1935, far across the Atlantic, in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.