Mickey Fonseca, is a
Mozambican filmmaker, writer and producer.
He is best known for directing the 2009 short film ''Mahla'' and 2019 crime thriller film ''Resgate''. He is the founder of film production company Mahla Filmes.
Personal life
Fonseca was born and raised in Maputo, Mozambique.
At the age of 12, his passion towards cinema grew up where he wrote letters to renowned filmmaker
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
as well.
Career
In his mid-twenties, Fonseca moved to Cape Town, South Africa and worked as a runner for Monkey Films. In 2006, he founded the film production company "Mahla Filmes" which is established in Maputo. Then for six years, the company shot commercials only.
In 2011, Fonseca attended 8-Week Screenwriting program at the
New York Film Academy
New York Film Academy – School of Film and Acting (NYFA) is a private for-profit film school and acting school based in New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami. The New York Film Academy was founded in 1992 by Jerry Sherlock, a former film, t ...
.
Through the program, he was able to meet many Hollywood filmmakers and technical crew where Fonseca worked with them as the location manager and assistant manager in Africa for the blockbuster movies ''Diana'' and ''Blood Diamond''.
In 2009, he made his film debut by directing the short ''Traidos pela traição''. Then he directed the short ''Mahla'' in the same year. The film became a turning point in his career, where the film received positive critics acclaim and nominated for best short at many film competitions: AMAA (Nigeria), TARIFA (Spain), Aguilar del Campoo (Spain), Festival Du Film D'Afrique et des Iles (Reunion Isalnd) and XXX Festival Cinema Africano. (Verona, Italy).
After that success, he later produced two more short films under the banner of Mahla Filmes: ''The Letter'' and ''The Dowry'' and directed his third short ''Poisoned Love'', all in the 2010. In 2018, he wrote, produced and directed his maiden feature film ''Resgate''. At the African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), the film won the Best Screenplay Award and Best Production Design as well as nominated for two other awards: Best Film and Best Director. Then at the Film Fest Zell, he won the Courageous Film Award for directing the film. In the same year, he was again nominated for the Young Talent Award for Best Feature Film at the Hamburg Film Festival.
In 2020, the film became the first film from Lusophone: Portuguese-speaking Africa screened on Netflix.
Filmography
References
External links
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Living people
Mozambican film directors
Year of birth missing (living people)
{{Mozambique-film-stub