Known for Directing
Walter Moreira Salles Júnior (/ˈsɑːlɪs/; Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈvawteʁ ˈsalis]; born 12 April 1956) is a Brazilian filmmaker. A major figure of the Resumption Cinema in Brazil, Salles is widely regarded as one of the greatest Brazilian filmmakers of all time. His accolades include an Academy Award accepted for Best International Film, three Cannes Film Festival prizes, three Venice Film Festival prizes, two British Academy Film Awards, a Golden Bear and a Golden Globe. He first became internationally known for his film Central Station (1998), which earned two Academy Awards nominations, for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actress for Fernanda Montenegro, winning a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for Best Foreign Language Film as well as the Golden Bear at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival. His subsequent works include Behind the Sun (2001), The Motorcycle Diaries (2004), Dark Water (2005) and On the Road (2012). At the 97th Academy Awards, his critically acclaimed film I'm Still Here (2024) received a rare double nomination for Best Picture and Best International Feature; it won the latter, becoming the first Brazilian film to win an Academy Award in any category. Heir to Itaú Unibanco, with a fortune valued at US$4.5 billion (R$24.26 billion), Salles is the third richest filmmaker in the world. Description above from the Wikipedia article Walter Salles, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Born
April 12, 1956 (age 70)
Birthplace
Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Filmography
82 films, 2 shows


I'm Still Here
2024 · 2h 18m
country: Brazil
A woman married to a former politician during the 1971 military dictatorship in Brazil is forced to reinvent herself and chart a new course for her family after a violent and arbitrary act.


Vozes de Paracatu e Bento
2018 · 39m
country: Brazil
The documentary “Vozes de Paracatu e Bento” shows how the cities of Paracatu de Baixo and Bento Rodrigues live after the collapse of the Samarco dam, in Minas Gerais. A story of belonging, passion and resistance is drawn on screen through the testimony of its residents. At the same time, a panel of abandonment in which Brazil finds itself is being shown in the documentary.


When the Earth Trembles
2017 · 26m
country: Brazil
The story of a family who has their lives crushed by the tragedy of the floods in Mariana (Minas Gerais, Brazil)


Where Has Time Gone?
2017 · 1h 51m
country: South Africa
A short film omnibus featuring the work of five directors representing five countries involved in the 2017 BRICS summit, an annual international relations conference held between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The collection—taking the concept of time as a unifying theme—depicts the economic, political, and social alienations and contradictions that create, compound, and structure issues as wide-ranging as poverty, class stratification, and homeless; familial distress; spousal abuse; and natural disaster.


Jia Zhangke, A Guy from Fenyang
2016 · 1h 40m
country: Brazil
Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke returns to the shooting locations of his films, along with his actors, friends and close collaborators. Jia recalls the inspiration sources for his movies, such as Platform, Still Life and A Touch of Sin. The film is the memory of a filmmaker and of a country in convulsion, China, which reveals itself little by little.


Venice 70: Future Reloaded
2013 · 2h
country: Italy
Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.


On the Road
2012 · 2h 22m
country: Brazil
Sal Paradise is a young writer whose life is shaken and ultimately redefined by the arrival of Dean Moriarty, a free-spirited, fearless, fast talking Westerner and his girl, Marylou. Traveling cross-country, Sal and Dean venture out on a personal quest for freedom from the conformity and conservatism engulfing them in search of the unknown, themselves, and the pursuit of “it” -- the pure essence of experience.


Stories on Human Rights
2008 · 1h 10m
country: Germany
20 short films about human rights.


Linha de Passe
2008 · 1h 48m
country: Brazil
In the periphery of São Paulo, the pregnant single mother Cleuza works as maid in the apartment of a middle-class family. Each of her sons has a different unknown father: the oldest, Dênis, has a baby son that lives with his mother and he works as motorcycle courier.


To Each His Own Cinema
2007 · 1h 40m
country: France
Commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, "To Each His Own Cinema" brought together 33 of the world's pre-eminent filmmakers to produce short pieces exploring the multifarious facets of cinema and their perspective on the state of their chosen artform in the early 21st century.


8,944 km from Cannes
2007 · 3m
country: Brazil
This short film was part of the feature film "Chacun Son Cinéma (Each One With His Own Cinema)", in which 36 directors celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival.


Paris Je T'aime
2006 · 2h
country: France
Olivier Assayas, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven and Alfonso Cuaron are among the 20 distinguished directors who contribute to this collection of 18 stories, each exploring a different aspect of Parisian life. The colourful characters in this drama include a pair of mimes, a husband trying to choose between his wife and his lover, and a married man who turns to a prostitute for advice.


Dark Water
2005 · 1h 45m
country: United States
Dahlia and her five-year-old daughter are ready to begin a new life together. But their new apartment — dilapidated and worn — suddenly seems to take on a life of its own. Mysterious noises, persistent leaks of dark water and other strange happenings send Dahlia on a haunting and mystifying pursuit — one that unleashes a torrent of living nightmares.


The Motorcycle Diaries
2004 · 2h 6m
country: Argentina
Based on the journals of Che Guevara, leader of the Cuban Revolution. In his memoirs, Guevara recounts adventures he and best friend Alberto Granado had while crossing South America by motorcycle in the early 1950s.


Castanha e Caju Contra o Encouraçado Titanic
2002 · 6m
country: Brazil
The six-minute film is shot in just two locations: an old movie theater in the city of Miguel Pereira (RJ) and a multiplex in the New York City Center, in the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Barra da Tijuca. In front of the old movie theater, the embolistas Castanha and Caju (actually Cajuzinho, the replacement for the original Caju, who died in June 2001) unravel an extremely biting and funny "embolada", which spares no Hollywood idols: from Stallone to Leonardo DiCaprio.


Behind the Sun
2001 · 1h 35m
country: France
Brazilian badlands, April 1910. Tonho is ordered by his father to avenge the death of his older brother. The young man knows that if he commits this crime, his life will be divided in two: the twenty years he has already lived and the few days he has left to live, before the other family avenges their son's death. He is torn between fulfilling his ancestral duty and rebelling against it, urged by his younger brother Pacu. That's when a tiny travelling circus passes through the vast badlands where Tonho's family lives.


Adão ou Somos Todos Filhos da Terra
1999 · 8m
country: Brazil
A resident of the Cantagalo favela in Rio de Janeiro, Adão Xalebaradã is the composer of more than 500 songs and has never been recorded in Brazil.


Midnight
1998 · 1h 15m
country: Brazil
On December 31st 1999, destiny brings a fugitive prisoner and a depressed middle class teacher together, as the new millennium approaches bringing hope to everyone.


Central Station
1998 · 1h 51m
country: Brazil
An emotional journey of a former school teacher, who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.


Foreign Land
1996 · 1h 50m
country: Brazil
During a time of political upheaval in Brazil, two strangers meet by coincidence in a foreign land and end up caught in the middle of a gem smuggling ring.


Socorro Nobre
1995 · 23m
country: Brazil
When the inmate Maria do Socorro Nobre reads an article about the Polish artist Franz Krajcberg in Veja magazine, she decides to write a letter to him. Socorro was sentenced to more than twenty-one years in a prison for women in Salvador, Bahia, while Franz is a tormented artist that lost his family and lived his childhood in a ghetto in Poland but survived the Holocaust. Franz moved to Brazil and recovered life wish living close to nature and inspires Socorro to dream with life again.


Antonio Carlos Jobim: An All-Star Tribute
1995 · 1h
country: United States
Direct from Brazil in his last recorded performance, this DVD, Antonio Carlos Jobim: An All-Star Tribute, features the compositions of Bossa Nova originator & music icon Antonio Carlos Jobim, joined by an international delegation of Jazz giants to recreate his classic melodies in this beautiful, concert-length 'Thank You,' hosted by renowned pianist Herbie Hancock.Composer of countless unforgettable songs, including Girl From Ipanema, Tom Jobim virtually single handedly brought the world Bossa Nova music. The esteemed pianist / vocalist is joined on stage by a cornucopia of musical legends such as Herbie Hancock, Shirley Horn, Joe Henderson, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Jon Hendricks, Gal Costa, & many more in this once-in-a-lifetime concert DVD.


João & Antônio
1992 · 55m
country: Brazil
A documentary about the fathers of Bossa Nova: João Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim.
Circuladô
Circuladô
1992
country: Unknown


High Art
1991 · 1h 40m
country: Brazil
Peter Mandrake, a North-American photojournalist becomes embroiled in South America's dangerous underworld of pimps, drug gangs and arms smugglers when he sets out to find the killer of a local call girl.


Marisa Monte: MM ao Vivo
1989 · 51m
country: Brazil
Marisa Monte's debut album concert. The show was recorded live at the Villa-Lobos Theater and featured special appearances by Ed Motta, Paulo Moura, and Nouvelle Cusine.


Chico, or the Country of the Lost Delicacy
1989 · 56m
country: Brazil
A look into the 25 years of career of famous musician Chico Buarque and his influence in Brazilian culture.


Krajcberg - O Poeta dos Vestígios
1987 · 48m
country: Brazil
A touching documentary about artist Franz Krajcberg who moved from his home country to Brazil and started a life of environment activist.