He graduated in law at the
University of Lisbon. In 1976, he graduated in film at Centro de Arte e Comunicação Visual (Ar.Co) and, in 1979 to 1980, completed courses in sound engineering and became the assistant director at the public television service
Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP). In 1978, he moved to cinema as the first assistant director for the film
O Meu Nome É, directed by Fernando Matos Silva. This was followed by
O Príncipe com Orelhas de Burro, directed by
António de Macedo, in 1979. In 1980, he moved to
Guinea Bissau and worked on the film
Acto dos Feitos da Guiné which was directed by Matos Silva. In the following year, he returned to Portugal and worked on Matos Silva's 1981 film
Guerra no Mirandum. After working as an assistant for many years, Manso's first directing work was in 1983 with the television documentary
A Epopeia dos Bacalhaus. He also edited his first television feature film,
Terra Nova, Mar Velho, in the same year. With the success of that film, he continued to direct films and documentaries such as,
A Aposta (1987),
Na Mão de Deus(1989),
Nostalgia (1994) and
O Espírito da Cor (1994). In 1997, Manso produced his first cinema feature film,
O Testamento do Senhor Napomuceno, based on the novel
The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo by
Germano Almeida about the
Cape Verde Islands. The film was distributed internationally and was screened at film festivals, receiving several awards including three at the
Gramado Film Festival. In 2000, he made the TV mini-series
Almeida Garrett. His documentary,
Memórias de um rio - Avieiros, os nómadas do Tejo in 2004, was awarded the special prize for
Lusophony at the 10th Environmental Film Festival - Cine Eco 2004. ==Filmography==