Salles, Walter (1956- )

Brazilian film director and screenwriter. A leading figure in the revival of Brazilian film at the end of the 20th century, he wrote and directed the award-winning films Terra Estrangeira/Foreign Land (1995) and Central Do Brasil/Central Station (1998), and directed Diarios de motocicleta/The Motorcycle Diaries (2004), based on the memoirs of Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara.

Most of his work deals with themes of Latin American roots and identity, exploring the lives of ordinary people and the effects of poverty. Foreign Land, co-directed by Daniela Thomas (1959- ), is a thriller set in Brazil and Portugal. Central Station, inspired by his documentary Socorro Nobre/Life Somewhere Else (1995), is a drama based on the friendship between a former teacher who writes letters for illiterate people and a young boy; it exposes the suffering of Brazil's poor. The Motorcycle Diaries is based on the young Guevara's motorcycle journey around Latin America and stars Gael García Bernal. Other films include the thriller A Grande Arte/Exposure (1991) and the dramas O Primeiro Dia/Midnight (1998), and Abril Despedaçado/Behind the Sun (2001). His first English-language film is the horror thriller Dark Water (2005), starring Jennifer Connelly.

Salles was born in Rio de Janeiro and lived in France and the USA before returning to Brazil during his teens. He made documentaries in the late 1980s and early 1990s.