100 YEARS SINCE THE DEATH OF BRAM STOKER

Bram Stoker died 100 years ago and Fantasporto 2012 honors the creator of the gothic novel "Dracula". There were very few stories left behind by a writer that was adapted to cinema so often. Bu one of his texts became world famous. A novel and from this novel emerged one of the most distinguishable characters of all: Count Dracula. Despite not being the first vampire story ever written, it was surely the one that gave shape and content to the legend of the "bloodsuckers". This 32th edition of International Film Festival of Porto thus pays a sort of homage to the great Irish writer, with the display of two of the most significant cinematographic films: "Nosferatu" by Murnau (a restored copy) and "Dracula" by Francis Ford Coppola, both "served " on the big screen.

Abraham (Bram) Stoker was born on November 8, 1847 in Dublin.
His mother was a writer and the father a civil servant. Bram Stoker was an unhealthy child and spent much time in bed - up to 7 years of age he could not walk (a difficulty he later overcame by becoming an excellent athlete and football player at the university where he studied), so his mother had to amuse him by telling stories, many of which were horror stories, that influenced his life and career.

In 1864 he entered Trinity College of Dublin and began working with his father while studying. Later, he was a freelance journalist and a theater critic.
Bram Stoker's life changed in 1876 when he met a famous actor - Henry Irving – and became his personal secretary for several years. In 1879 he married the actress Florence Balcombe, who bore him a son.

Already living in London, he wrote his first book - "The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland," a manual of tax administration that was published in 1879. His first work of fiction "Under the Sunset" came out in 1881. Despite being best known for the history of gothic horror "Dracula" (1897), Stoker wrote a total of eighteen books (among them "The Snaker's Pass," "The Mystery of the Sea," the Jewel of Seven Stars "and" the Lady of the Shroud") before his death on April 20, 1912. He passed away at the age of 64.

"Dracula" was written as if it were the diaries of the main characters: Jonathan Harker, who is the first to have a contact with the vampire Count Dracula; Wilhelmina (Mina)Harker, Jonathan's future wife; Dr. John (Jack) Seward, a psychiatrist and director of thesanatorium; and Lucy Westenra, a friend of Mina’s and a victim of Dracula that soon turnsher into a vampire.