Archive of films Motorcycle Diaries / Diarios de motocicleta

USA / Germany / United Kingdom / Argentina / Peru / France / Chile
2004, 128 min

Section: Horizons
Year: 2005

In 1952 two friends set off on an old motorbike from Argentina to Venezuela, a trip 8,000 km long. The younger of them is the future Cuban revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

Synopsis

He’s 23, he’s studying medicine — and he doesn’t yet know that he’ll enter history books as Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara. He sets off on a journey through Latin America with his friend Alberto Granado on an old Norton 500 motorbike. It’s 1952 and there’s nothing in front of them but the open road — no tourists, no hotels and no maps, just the wind in their hair. Getting from Argentina to Venezuela is a dream which 8,000 km of road turns into reality. The film was inspired by Guevara’s diaries Notas de viaje and Granado’s book Con el Che por America Latina. The film’s deliberately apolitical slant shows us Guevara as an icon who might have been transferred onto film from a freshly washed T-shirt: only in a roundabout way does it call to mind the future Cuban revolutionary. The film won a BAFTA, the Francois Chalais Award and a prize from the Ecumenical Jury at the Cannes IFF in 2004.

About the director

Walter Salles (b. 1956, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) become established with the drama Central Station (Central do Brasil, 1998) which, until Motorcycle Diaries, won Salles the most awards (Golden Bear and Ecumenical Jury Prize at the Berlin IFF, Audience Prize at the San Sebastian IFF, a Golden Globe and nominations for an Oscar, a César and an Independent Spirit Award). Before this, he made the short film Exposure (A grande arte, 1991), the short documentary Life Somewhere Else (Socorro nobre, 1995) and, with co-director Daniela Thomas, the medium-length works Foreign Land (Terra estrangeira, 1996) and Midnight (Meia noite, 1998). Other films: the medium-length drama Behind the Sun (Abril despedacado, 2001) and the short (with D. Thomas) Guns and Peace (Armas e paz, 2002). He was involved as a producer in the award-winning drama City of God (Cidade de Deus, 2002).

Contacts

Best Hollywood Ltd.
Tusnadi u. 19., 1125, Budapest
Hungary
Tel: +36 1 202 1449
Fax: +36 1 202 0133
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.best-hollywood.hu

Pathé International UK
6 Ramillies St., W1F 7TY, London
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 207 323 5151, +44 207 462 4429
Fax: +44 207 436 7891
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.pathe.co.uk

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About the film

Color, 35 mm

Section:	Horizons

Director:	Walter Salles
Screenplay:	Jose Rivera
Dir. of Photography:	Eric Gaultier
Music:	Jorge Drexler, Gustavo Santaolalla
Editor:	Daniel Rezende
Production:	FilmFour, South Fork Pictures, Southfork Pictures, Tu Vas Voir Productions, BD Cine, Senator Film Produktion GmbH
Cast:	Gael García Bernal, Rodrigo De la Serna, Mercedes Morán, Jean Pierre Noher, Lucas Oro
Contact:	Best Hollywood Ltd., Pathé International UK

www:	www.motorcyclediariesmovie.com

Guests

Walter Salles

Film Director

Mariann Seres

Distributor

Gael Garcia Bernal

Actor