Walter Salles

In this Portuguese name, "Júnior" is a generational suffix used for someone whose name is the same as their father, like "Jr." in English.

Walter Salles
Salles at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2012
Born	Walter Moreira Salles Júnior (1956-04-12) 12 April 1956 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Alma mater	Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro University of Southern California
Occupation(s)	Film director, producer, editor
Spouse	Maria Klabin ​ ​ (m. 2004; div. 2021)​
Children	2
Father	Walter Moreira Salles
Relatives	João Moreira Salles (brother) Pedro Moreira Salles (brother)

Walter Moreira Salles Júnior (/ˈsɑːlɪs/; born 12 April 1956) is a Brazilian filmmaker.

Early life

Salles was born on 12 April 1956 in Rio de Janeiro and 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 (Foreign Land), 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 (Central Station) 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 (Behind the Sun), based on a novel by Albanian author Ismail Kadare and starring Rodrigo Santoro, was nominated for the Best Foreign Film Golden Globes. Salles said: ".. there was one book that resonated to the point where I couldn't forget it. And that was 'Broken April' by Ismail Kadare. The book was handed to me by my younger brother, who said, 'If I know you well, this will touch you.' ... What really struck me was the opposition between the atavistic violence described in the book and the possibility for that violence to be overpowered by the discovery of poetry and literature and ultimately by brotherly love."

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 (The Motorcycle Diaries), 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 (Spanish, in this case) and quickly became a box-office hit in Latin America and Europe.

Salles in 2005

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 (French for "Paris, I love you") 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" (literally: "Far from the 16th") and took place in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.

In 2007, Salles took part in a similar project called To Each His Own Cinema (French: Chacun son cinéma) in the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival. He made a 3-minute segment called "A 8 944 km de Cannes" (English: 5,557 Miles From 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 2009, Salles signed a petition in support of film director Roman Polanski, calling for his release after Polanski was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his 1977 charge for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl.

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

Key

†

Indicates a documentary

‡

Indicates a short film

List of films directed by Walter Salles

Year	Original title	English release title	Language(s)	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	None
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 (2006).
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 (2007).
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? (2017).
	Ainda Estou Aqui		Portuguese
	Terra		Portuguese
	The Man in the Rockefeller Suit		English

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Walter Salles

In July 2022 Salles was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of letters by the University of Reading.

External links

• Walter Salles at IMDb
• Video interview with Walter Salles opening Cambridge Film Festival 2008 with "Linha de Passe" ITV Anglia
• Interview with Walter Salles at Cannes 2008 on "Linha de Passe" at IFC.com
• Walter Salles interviewed by Michael Ordoña for the San Francisco Chronicle