
Directing
Walter Salles
Born
1956-04-12 (70)
Place of birth
Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Known for
Directing
Credits
50 titles
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 BA…
Known for
7.1An annual American awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievements in the film industry. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially the Academy Award of Merit, that is better known by its nickname Oscar.
The Oscars
1953
8.4In the poverty-stricken favelas of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, two young men choose different paths. Rocket is a budding photographer who documents the increasing drug-related violence of his neighborhood, while José “Zé” Pequeno is an ambitious drug dealer diving into a dangerous life of crime.
City of God
2002
7.9A 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.
I'm Still Here
2024
5.7Dahlia 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.
Dark Water
2005
6.8Olivier 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.
Paris Je T'aime
2006
7.0A pair of mice attempt to board Noah's Ark: Vini, a charismatic poet with terrible stage fright, and Tito, a talented and charming guitarist. When the rains come, only one male and one female of each species is allowed on Noah's Ark. With the help of an ingenious cockroach and fate's good luck, Vini and Tito sneak their way onto the Ark and together avert a showdown among the ships carnivores and plant eaters. All the while, the animals perform a series of classic songs inspired by world renowned poet, Vinicius de Moraes. Can these talented stowaways use music to break the tension and help these cooped up creatures survive the 40 days and 40 nights together?
Noah's Ark
2024
Film credits
2020s · 2 titles
2000s · 6 titles
6.6In 1952, Ernesto Guevara, then a medical student aged 23, and his friend Alberto Granado, a biologist of 29, began a long journey through the South American continent. During their tour, which began with an old motorcycle to continue after hitchhiking, they witnessed the harsh living conditions of the population of the countries they travelled. Guevara, soon to be known as Che, recorded his impressions in a diary. In 2002, the Brazilian director Walter Salles began shooting a film about that odyssey, "The Motorcycle Diaries". This documentary follows the making of that movie in detail, incorporating interviews with various participants.
Traveling with Che Guevara
2004
7.9Seventy critics and filmmakers discuss cinema around the conflict between the artist and the observer, the creator and the critic. Between 1998 and 2007, Kléber Mendonça Filho recorded testimonies about this relationship in Brazil, the United States and Europe, based on his experience as a critic.
Critic
2008
6.0A 10-part documentary about 10 Brazilian filmmakers: Linduarte Noronha, Jorge Furtado, Ruy Guerra, Murilo Salles, Paulo Caldas, Walter Salles & Daniela Thomas, David Neves, Julio Bressane, Ana Carolina and Carlos Reichenbach.
A Linguagem do Cinema
2001
7.5On 17 May 1931, the young director Mário Peixoto released his masterpiece "Limite" in a premiere in Capitólio Theater in Rio de Janeiro to astonished audiences bewildered by the impressive and poetic images. Considered by many viewers the best Brazilian movie ever made, this feature has never been released commercially. However, in a great paradox, Mário Peixoto has never made any other movie. The director Sérgio Machado pays a great tribute to the life and work Mário Peixoto a.k.a. Maçarico by his close friends with this documentary, using his diary; footages of "Limite", the never concluded "Onde a Terra Acaba" (1933) and the short "O Homem do Morcego" (1980); and interesting testimonies of Olga Breno, Ruy Solberg, Nelson Pereira dos Santos and Walter Salles among others.
At the Edge of the Earth
2002
NRExclusive record of the filming of Central do Brasil in Vitória da Conquista in 1997. The ProVídeo Uesb team had access to the backstage, testimonies from the team, actors and director Walter Sales, keeping unique moments from one of the most emblematic films of what came to be known as Cinema da Retomada. A project carefully thought out by cultural producer Jorge Melquisedeque, the video ended up not being produced by him - who would die in 2001. All the raw tapes were rescued in 2002 and edited with the script by Marcelo Lopes (based on Jorge's chronicles about the period) and directed by Esmon Primo for the tribute program to the 10 years of the Indiscreet Window Cine Vídeo Uesb Program.
Conquista Central Station - The 7 days of creation
2002
No synopsis available yet.
Beneath the Surface: The Making of 'Dark Water'
2005
Series credits
Behind the camera
8.4In the poverty-stricken favelas of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, two young men choose different paths. Rocket is a budding photographer who documents the increasing drug-related violence of his neighborhood, while José “Zé” Pequeno is an ambitious drug dealer diving into a dangerous life of crime.
City of God
2002
7.9A 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.
I'm Still Here
2024
7.9A 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.
I'm Still Here
2024
5.7Dahlia 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.
Dark Water
2005
6.8Olivier 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.
Paris Je T'aime
2006
6.8Olivier 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.
Paris Je T'aime
2006
7.0A pair of mice attempt to board Noah's Ark: Vini, a charismatic poet with terrible stage fright, and Tito, a talented and charming guitarist. When the rains come, only one male and one female of each species is allowed on Noah's Ark. With the help of an ingenious cockroach and fate's good luck, Vini and Tito sneak their way onto the Ark and together avert a showdown among the ships carnivores and plant eaters. All the while, the animals perform a series of classic songs inspired by world renowned poet, Vinicius de Moraes. Can these talented stowaways use music to break the tension and help these cooped up creatures survive the 40 days and 40 nights together?
Noah's Ark
2024
7.4Based 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.
The Motorcycle Diaries
2004
8.1An 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.
Central Station
1998
8.1An 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.
Central Station
1998
8.1An 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.
Central Station
1998
6.5María Margarita is the youngest of four siblings in a family living in a mining town in the Atacama Desert (Chile). The most special time of the week for this family is Sunday, when they all go to the movies to enjoy stories that let them escape their everyday lives by transporting them to other worlds. The girl’s parents soon realise that the little girl has a very special gift: an almost uncanny ability to recount movies. The girl’s extraordinary talent will spread throughout the village, changing the fortunes of her family as the country is transformed forever.
The Movie Teller
2023
5.6Sal 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.
On the Road
2012
5.0Made 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.
Venice 70: Future Reloaded
2013
6.9In the favelas of Rio de Janeiro of the 1930s, João Francisco dos Santos is several things — son of slaves, ex-convict, thug, homosexual and adopted father for a number of pariahs. João expresses himself on the stage of a cabaret as Madame Satã.
Madame Satã
2002
6.4Commissioned 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.
To Each His Own Cinema
2007
6.5Best friends Deco and Naldinho co-own a cargo boat in Brazil's Salvador da Bahia. They give a ride to a sultry prostitute named Karinna, and soon both men fall prey to her considerable sexual charms, pushing the bounds of their friendship to the limit.
Lower City
2005
7.3In northern Brazil, Hermila patiently waits for her husband. However, he has abandoned her. Sexy, restless and resolute, she raffles off "a night in paradise" with herself. This beautifully-shot portrait doesn't shy away from the burdens of a young scarred woman, but it also celebrates her courage to live according to her own rules.
Love for Sale
2006
6.9Friends of the recently deceased Quincas take their pal's body on one last tour of his favorite spots in Brazil's Bahia.
The Two Deaths of Quincas Wateryell
2010
7.4Brazilian 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.
Behind the Sun
2001
7.4Brazilian 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.
Behind the Sun
2001
7.4When 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.
Socorro Nobre
1995
7.4When 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.
Socorro Nobre
1995
7.0In the bucolic countryside of Brazil, Marcelo, an easygoing cowboy at a cattle farm lives for one passion: rodeos. One tragic incident affects him deeply. Little by little he overcomes the trauma and is ready to dream again.
Homing
2019
2.220 short films about human rights.
Stories on Human Rights
2008
6.7In 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.
Linha de Passe
2008
6.7In 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.
Linha de Passe
2008
6.7In 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.
Linha de Passe
2008
4.8Analía’s mother sends her to Buenos Aires to deliver some handicrafts. She is expected to return home quickly to the country town where she is to take on her family’s hairdressing salon. But by chance an address mix-up leads her to a Muslim community where she finds herself taking part in a ritual completely unknown to her. Enthralled by the new world she has entered, Analía decides on the spur of the moment to take on another identity.
Habi, The Foreigner
2013
7.3During 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.
Foreign Land
1996
7.3During 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.
Foreign Land
1996
4.5Peter 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.
High Art
1991
6.9Chinese 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.
Jia Zhangke, A Guy from Fenyang
2016
6.9Chinese 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.
Jia Zhangke, A Guy from Fenyang
2016
NRA touching documentary about artist Franz Krajcberg who moved from his home country to Brazil and started a life of environment activist.
Krajcberg - O Poeta dos Vestígios
1987
NRA touching documentary about artist Franz Krajcberg who moved from his home country to Brazil and started a life of environment activist.
Krajcberg - O Poeta dos Vestígios
1987
NRThis 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.
8,944 km from Cannes
2007
9.0The 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.
Castanha e Caju Contra o Encouraçado Titanic
2002
5.5A 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.
Where Has Time Gone?
2017
5.5A 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.
Where Has Time Gone?
2017



