Portuguese film maker Manoel de Oliveira died Thursday at age 106.

To call Oliveira’s passion for making films “lifelong” is as close to a literal statement as one can make. His career spanned generations, starting in the silent era and continuing until last year, when he directed a short film at age 105.

All the while, Oliveira put his creative spirit on film. As Randal Johnson wrote in his Contemporary Film Directors series book Manoel de Oliveira…

Oliveira’s cinematic longevity, encompassing more than seventy years of activity from the late silent period to the present, is obviously remarkable in its own right. But what is perhaps more impressive is the creative vitality of his films. Unrestrained by the strictures of studio production and commercial imperatives, he has been able to pursue his own vision in a style of his choosing, resulting in films that are original, often provocative, and almost always unorthodox…

Film fans will be left with one final gift of Oliveira’s stunning career: there is one his completed films that has yet to be released.