Ruy Guerra was born in Lourenco Marques, Mozambique, which was at that time a Portuguese colony, in 1931. As a teenager and young man, Guerra published film criticism, short stories and essays, and he taught himself 8mm film production. Guerra was politically active, participating in anti-racist and pro-independence movements before leaving his country at age nineteen.From 1952 to 1954, Guerra studied filmmaking in Paris at IDHEC; he broke into film production in France as an assistant cameraman and assistant director. Though best known as a director, Guerra has also worked as an editor,
