/Film
They Shot the Piano Player
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A New York music journalist goes on a quest to uncover the truth behind the mysterious disappearance of young Brazilian piano virtuoso Tenorio Jr. A celebratory origin story of the world-renowned Latino musical movement Bossa Nova, They Shot The Piano Player captures a fleeting time bursting with creative freedom at a turning point in Latin American history in the 60s and 70s, just before the continent was engulfed by totalitarian regimes.
SF/Arts Curator Insight
Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal (“Chico & Rita”) ingeniously meld interviews and hand-drawn animation to probe the life of Francisco Tenorio Junior, a dazzling bossa nova star and keyboard sensation of the 1960s and 70s Brazilian music scene, who, at 34, became one of the Argentine dictatorship’s “disappeared” while touring Buenos Aires. Packed with the seductive rhythms of bossa nova and samba-jazz, this hybrid weaves passionate memories of musicians and friends with a Rio wrapped in an orgy of color and moonlight, and references to Truffaut and the movie that gives the film its name.
Sura Wood
Contributing Writer, Film
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