Salles is a Brazilian director, producer and screenwriter. He studied economics at the University of Rio de Janeiro and graduated with an audiovisual communications degree from the University of California. He began his career in the 1980s making documentaries. His first important film is Foreign Land (Terra estrangeira, 1996), which received good reviews and the attention of a wide audience. His next film Central Station (Central do Brasil, 1998) won the Golden Globe as Best Foreign Film in 1999, Golden Bear and the jury’s award in Berlin in 1998. His film ehind the Sun (Abril Despedaçado, 2001) was also well-received and The Motorcycle Diaries (Diarios de motocicleta, 2004) is his most successful film so far. Afterwards he made a remake of a Japanese horror Dark Water (2005) and the sports drama Linha de Passe (2008.). He directed segments in the omnibus films Paris, je t'aime (2006), Chacun son cinéma ou Ce petit coup au coeur quand la lumičre s'éteint et que le film commence (2007) and Stories on Human Rights (2008). He is currently working on the film On the Road (2009), a film adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s novel.