Walter Salles

Brazilian filmmaker, a major figure of the Resumption Cinema in Brazil, widely regarded as one of the greatest Brazilian filmmakers of all time. Among his accolades, he has won an Academy Award, three Cannes Film Festival prizes, three Venice Film Festival prizes, two British Academy Film Awards, a Golden Bear and a Golden Globe.

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 (won), the first Brazilian film to do so and with that, becoming the first ever Brazilian nominee to win a statuette in any category of the Academy Awards in history.

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).

Heir to the Brazilian financial services company Itaú Unibanco, with a fortune valued at US$4.5 billion (R$24.26 billion), Salles is the third richest filmmaker in the world, behind Steven Spielberg ($5.3 billion) and George Lucas ($5.2 billion).