Mário Ventura was the founder and great impeller of the Tróia International Film Festival,
which had its first edition in 1985, at the Tróia peninsula.
Through his commitment, the Festival earned the recognition of the FIAPF (International
Federation of Film Producers Associations), which only highlights 50 festivals throughout
the world in its yearly calendar. Festroia dedicates its Official Section to films from
countries that produce less than 30 features per year.
In its first years, Festroia also garnered the support of FIPRESCI (International Federation
of Film Critics) and SIGNIS (World Catholic Association for Communication), organizations
that have since sent their specialized juries to Festroia.
More recently, with Mário Ventura still at the wheel, the Festival became one of the eight
festivals worldwide to host a regular jury from the CICAE (International Confederation of
Arthouse Cinemas).
During his presidency, Festroia gained enormous prestige and recognition. The presence
of movie stars like Kirk Douglas, Debbie Harry, Dennis Hopper, Krzysztof Kieslowski,
Christopher Lee, Bigas Luna, Jirí Menzel, Pedro Almodóvar, Lauren Bacall, Juan Antonio
Bardem, Robert Mitchum, Jane Russel, Joaquim de Almeida, Assumpta Serna, Fernando Solanas,
Alberto Sordi, Carlos Sorín, Christopher Walken or Michael York proves the event's relevance.
The writer and the journalist
Mário was a multifaceted man who, besides his commitment to the festival, dedicated several years
to journalism, in Portugal and in Spain, and to writing, building a literary oeuvre with over 20
books, including novels, short stories, albums and memoirs.
As a journalist, Mário Ventura Henriques worked for "Diário Popular" and "Diário de Notícias",
belonged to the editorial board of the "Seara Nova" magazine, directed the weekly "Extra"
and headed the news agency Europa Press. From 1968 he was correspondent of the Spanish press
in Portugal, a task he abandoned in the 1990s. He also directed the Portuguese edition of "Cambio 16".
As a writer, he made his debut with "A Noite da Vergonha", published in 1963, which was followed
by "À Sombra das Árvores Mortas" (1966) and "O Despojo dos Insensatos" (1968). He then gathered,
in "Alentejo Desencantado" (1969) and "Morrer em Portugal" (1976), narratives about several
regions of the country, returning to novelistic fiction in 1979 with "Outro Tempo Outra Cidade",
which was followed, six years later, in 1985, by "Vida e Morte dos Santiagos", a book that won
the Pen Club's Fiction Award and the Lisbon Municipality Literary Award.
He also published "Conversas" (1986), a collection of dialogues with other writers, as well
as the novels "Março Desavindo" (1987) and "Évora e os Dias da Guerra" (1992). The latter
won him another Pen Club award.
President of the Portuguese Writers Association in the beginning of the 1990s, Mário Ventura
also wrote "A Revolta dos Herdeiros" (1997), "O Segredo de Miguel Zuzarte" (1999), "Quarto
Crescente" (memoirs, 2001) and the album "Portugal – Geografia do Fatalismo".
In 2002 he published "Atravessando o Deserto" and, in the following year, "A Noite da Vergonha"
was re-edited, to mark his 40 years of literary life. A new novel, "O Reino Encantado", arrived
at the bookstores in 2005, year of the re-edition of "Vida e Morte dos Santiagos", two decades
after the original publishing.
Mário Ventura's oeuvre is accessible through his website: www.marioventura.com