António Gaio, director of Portugal’s Cinanima International Animated Film Festival of Espinho for more than 35 years, died last week. He was 90.
Gaio took over the festival in 1980 – five years after the country restored democracy after years of rule under fascist dictator António de Oliveira Salazar and – and set about making it an internationally recognized event.
In 2000, he published a book titled History of Portuguese Animation, and in 2012 he was honored at the Centro Multimeios of Espinho.
