In the last few days, we have heard about the rise of the new production by Walter Salles, 68, one of the greatest and well-known Brazilian directors. The film, which was applauded for 11 uninterrupted minutes and won the award for best screenplay at the Venice Film Festival, is called ‘I’m Still Here‘, and exclaims the dangers posed by authoritarianism. The production features names such as Selton Mello, Fernanda Montenegro and Fernanda Torres, who is being internationally acclaimed as one of the great contenders for the Oscar 2025 statuette. A fact that culturally excites Brazilians, who are passionate about cinema, and watched the statuette slip from the hands of Montenegro in 1999 with a film directed by none other than Walter Salles.
FIrst of all, who is Walter Salles?
Walter has been one of the biggest names to emerge in the world of international cinema since the 90s and his productions are an almost deeply rooted part of Brazilian culture. Salles made a large part of his fortune through his productions. However, as the son of Walther Moreira Salles, he was born with a variety of privileges that helped him enter the film industry in a more consolidated way.
What made several Brazilian filmmakers internationally known was a golden moment in Brazil, known as ‘New Cinema’ (Cinema Novo), which stood out for criticism of social inequality, dialoguing with the repression of the military dictatorship, therefore acting as a principle of response. The movement that used the phrase ‘A camera in the hand, an idea in the head’, had repercussions on all those so-called ‘living germs of new cinema’, who came to put their art at the service of the important causes of their time.
Below, in order from the most current to the beginning of his career, is the list of films that make up his filmography:
- I’m Still Here (2023):
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His most recent film that is inspired by the book of the same name by Marcelo Rubens Paiva and tells the story of his family.
- What Time We Live In (2017):
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Made in five segments, each one signed by a director from a BRICS country (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
- Jia Zhang-ke, a man from Fenyang (2015):
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Selected for the Panorama Exhibition at the 2015 Berlin Festival.
- On the road (2012):
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a feature film starring Garrett Hedlund and Kirsten Stewart, selected for the Palme d’Or competition at the 2012 Cannes Festival.
- Pass Line (2008):
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In partnership with Daniela Thomas. Best Actress Award (Sandra Corveloni) at the Cannes Film Festival.
- Each with their own cinema (2007):
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Composed of 33 films by international filmmakers, commissioned by the Cannes Festival.
- Paris je t’aime (2006):
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I can say it is one of my favorite films ever. It was produced with 20 foreign filmmakers as a proposal given by the Cannes Festival. Each one transmits their perspective through the different love stories that were set in the city of Paris.
- Blackwater (2005):
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His first film in English. Follows the trend at the beginning of the 21st century for the American market to invest in remakes of Japanese horror films.
- Motorcycle Diaries (2004):
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A film about Ernesto “Che” Guevara (Gael García Bernal) and his travel from Brazil to Peru by motorcycle.
- Shattered April (2001):
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Selected for the Venice Festival.
- The First Day (2000):
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Co-directed with Daniela Thomas.
- Central Station (1998):
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His most popular film until today. a work that garnered more than 40 awards around the world and a spectacular Oscar nomination.
- Foreign Land (1995):
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Co-directed with Daniela Thomas. Selected for the Rotterdam Festival competition in the Netherlands and starring Fernanda Torres.
- The Great Art (1991):
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Is a Brazilian-American film, in the thriller genre.
Those were the fourteen features directed by Salles and which are truly worth visiting. He was also producer of Cidade de Deus (2002), together with Meirelles and Cidade Baixa (2005) by Sergio Machado.
In a not at all succinct way, this is what is verbalized in ‘I’m Still Here’ and throughout Walter’s filmography. The film that will be released in januery’25 is about what cannot be forgotten. In a press conference at the Toronto Film Festival, Walter says: ‘We started this project thinking that we were retelling a story from the past, but we came to realize that it was also a reflection on our present.’ And continues: ‘Cinema can be a powerful instrument to push against those forces. A country without memory is a country without a future.’
Brazilian cinema is known worldwide through the eyes of names like Salles. A cinema that romanticizes everything that the population itself makes a point of criticizing in a negative way. As Matheus Nachtergaele, a man who, in addition to being a great actor, is also a great thinker said: ‘Something happens here that only happens here, which has to do with urgency. It has to do with the country’s ignorance, which needs things to be said, clearly explained. There is something about Brazil that has the extravagance of what is poor, the beauty of what is miserable, the urgency of what cannot be forgotten. Even in our most head-turning cinema, like Glauber Rocha, people scream.’
Supply and demand in national cinema
The problem involving national cinema is not shallow. It’s not simply because of the lack of funds, the vocabulary used, what is shown. National cinema is going through a period after new cinema, where it is not in demand. If the population does not demand cultural productions in general and settles for watching television every day at 9 o’clock at night, there is no better professional in the world who can make them go to the movies, then it will automatically not be offered. Do we just want to watch someone else’s story?
Today, it is possible to see a governmental and population political movement that seeks to value Brazilian culture. Professionals like Salles made Brazil reach the most important pillars of cinema, the world embraced the struggles we went through, the reality in which more than half of our population lives and our actors who are more than fierce on action.
One day somebody told me that ‘the worst Brazilian film has more to say than the best Hollywood film’, and that is something that will never cease to be true, because as has already been said, here people scream and feel the need to be seen. These needs were and continue to be met by Brazilian cinema, and of course, Walter Salles.
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The article above was edited by Maria Clara Polcan.
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