Walter Salles
Walter Moreira Salles Jr. is a Brazilian filmmaker and film producer of international prominence.
Life, family and education
Walter Salles was born on April 12, 1956 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as Walther Moreira Salles Jr. Salles attended the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.He is the son of Brazilian banker, politician and philanthropist Walter Moreira Salles.
Film career
Salles's first notable film was Terra Estrangeira, released in Brazil in 1995. Locally, it was widely acclaimed by film critics and a minor box-office hit, and it was selected by over 40 film festivals worldwide. In 1998 he released Central do Brasil to widespread international acclaim and two Academy Awards nominations, for Best Actress in a Leading Role and Best Foreign Language Film. Salles won a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, becoming the first Brazilian to win a Golden Globe. In 2001, Abril Despedaçado, starring Rodrigo Santoro, was nominated for the Best Foreign Film Golden Globes. Both films were produced by veteran Arthur Cohn and had worldwide distribution.In 2003, Salles was voted one of the 40 Best Directors in the World by The Guardian. His biggest international success has been Diarios de Motocicleta, a 2004 film about the life of young Ernesto Guevara, who later became known as Che Guevara. It was Salles's first foray as director of a film in a language other than his native Portuguese and quickly became a box-office hit in Latin America and Europe.
In 2005, Salles released his first Hollywood film, Dark Water, an adaptation of the 2002 Japanese film of the same name. He also helped to produce the Argentine picture Hermanas which was a major success.
In 2006, Salles wrote and directed a segment in the French film Paris, je t'aime with Daniela Thomas. The film is a collection of 18 shorter segments made by different 21 directors and set in different arrondissements of Paris. Salles' segment called "Loin du 16e" and took place in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.
In 2007, Salles took part in a similar project called To Each His Own Cinema in the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival. He made a 3-minute segment called "A 8 944 km de Cannes".
In 2008, Salles wrote and directed the film Linha de Passe also with Daniela Thomas. It is a story about four brothers from a poor family who need to fight to follow their dreams. He was nominated for the Golden Palm and Sandra Corveloni won the best actress award for her role in this film in Cannes Film Festival in 2008.
In 2012 Salles released José Rivera's screenplay adaptation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road, with Francis Ford Coppola producing. The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.
Filmography
| Year | Original title | English release title | Language | Notes |
| 1986 | Japão: Uma Viagem No Tempo | Portuguese | TV documentary series. Four episodes. | |
| 1987 | Krajcberg: O Poeta Dos Vestígios | Portuguese | Documentary on Frans Krajcberg. | |
| 1988 | Marisa Monte | Portuguese | Co-directed with Nelson Motta. Documentary and concert film on Marisa Monte. | |
| 1989 | Chico, ou O País Da Delicadeza Perdida | Portuguese | Co-directed with Nelson Motta. Medium-length documentary on Chico Buarque. | |
| 1991 | A Grande Arte | Exposure / The Knife / High Art / Knife Fighter | Portuguese, English, Spanish | |
| 1995 | Un Siécle d'Écrivains | French | TV documentary series. One episode. | |
| 1995 | Terra Estrangeira | Foreign Land | Portuguese | Co-directed with Daniela Thomas. |
| 1995 | Tom E A Bossa Nova | Antônio Carlos Jobim: An All-Star Tribute | Portuguese, English | Last recorded performance of Antônio Carlos Jobim. |
| 1996 | Socorro Nobre | Life Somewhere Else | Portuguese | |
| 1998 | Central Do Brasil | Central Station | Portuguese, German | Brazilian-french coproduction. |
| 1999 | O Primeiro Dia | Midnight | Portuguese | Co-directed with Daniela Thomas. |
| 1999 | Somos Todos Filhos Da Terra | Portuguese | Co-directed with Kátia Lund, João Moreira Salles and Daniela Thomas. Short documentary on Adão Dãxalebaradã. | |
| 2001 | Abril Despedaçado | Behind the Sun | Portuguese | |
| 2002 | Castanha E Caju Contra O Encouraçado Titanic | Portuguese | Co-directed with Daniela Thomas and George Moura. | |
| 2003 | Armas E Paz | Guns and Peace | - | |
| 2004 | Diarios de Motocicleta | The Motorcycle Diaries | Spanish, Quechua, Mapudungun | |
| 2005 | Dark Water | English | ||
| 2006 | Loin du 16e | French, English, Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic | Co-directed with Daniela Thomas. Segment of Paris, je t'aime. | |
| 2007 | À 8 944 km de Cannes | 5,557 Miles From Cannes | Mandarin, English, French, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Yiddish, Arabic | Segment of To Each His Own Cinema. |
| 2008 | Linha de Passe | Portuguese | Co-directed with Daniela Thomas. | |
| 2010 | In Search of the World | Portuguese | Cinematic essay during the adaptation process of Jack Kerouac's On the Road. | |
| 2012 | On the Road | English, French | ||
| 2013 | Venice 70: Future Reloaded | English | Segment director. | |
| 2016 | Jia Zhang-ke by Walter Salles | Jia Zhang-ke by Walter Salles / Jia Zhang-ke: A Guy from Fenyang | Mandarin | Documentary on Jia Zhangke. |
| 2017 | When the Earth Trembles | Portuguese, Russian, Hindi, English, Chinese | Segment of Where Has the Time Gone?. | |
| Ainda Estou Aqui | Portuguese | |||
| Terra | Portuguese | |||
| The Man in the Rockefeller Suit | English |