Luiz França Filho was a Brazilian martial artist who became the founder of the most successful non-Gracie lineage in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, one carried on primarily through the work of his most prominent student, Oswaldo Fadda.
Before discussing França, it is essential to mention his first instructor, Soshihiro Satake. Like the famous Mitsuyo Maeda (also known as Count Coma), Satake was one of the most accomplished students from the Kodokan dojo in Japan. Satake started as a sumo wrestler but also trained at the Kodokan academy. He and Maeda left Japan together — some sources say in 1904, others in 1907 — and traveled extensively through the Americas. The group of Japanese fighters (Maeda, Satake, Okura, Shimitsu, and Laku) arrived in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 1914, and reached Manaus in the state of Amazonas in 1915. There Satake settled, opening his own academy at the Atlético Clube Rio Negro in 1916, becoming the first Japanese to open a judo/jiu-jitsu academy in Brazil. Satake later became a Brazilian citizen, changing his name to Antônio Soshihiro Satake.
It was at Satake's gym that Luiz França began his life as a martial artist. After approximately one year of intense training, França moved to Belém do Pará, where Mitsuyo Maeda was stationed. Maeda became França's instructor, at the same academy where Maeda taught Carlos Gracie and others. After his time with Maeda, França moved to São Paulo and trained with another Japanese instructor, Geo Omori.
França eventually settled in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, where he taught the techniques learned from the Japanese masters to soldiers and police officers, including a young Marine named Oswaldo Fadda, who became França's standout student and carried the França jiu-jitsu tradition forward for decades.
França opened the doors of his gym to the impoverished population, contrasting with the Gracie approach in Rio de Janeiro's wealthy city center. His teaching reportedly focused on the self-defense aspects of jiu-jitsu.
Sources: BJJ Heroes; "O Livro Proibido Do Jiu Jitsu"; judobrasil.net.