Walter Moreira Salles Jr. directed television specials and commercials before transitioning to cinema. He made his feature film directorial debut with A Grande Arte (The Knife), based on Rubem Fonseca’s work, a co-production with the United States starring American actor Peter Coyote. He directed the short documentary Socorro Nobre (1995), a preliminary work for Central Station. Together with first-time director Daniela Thomas, he directed the feature film Foreign Land (1995), a black-and-white 16mm production co-produced with Portugal. His first major critical and public success was Central Station (1998), a co-production with France starring actress Fernanda Montenegro. In another French co-production, he directed Midnight (1999), again collaborating with Daniela Thomas. In a Franco-Swiss co-production, he directed Behind the Sun (2002), adapted from the novel by Albanian writer Ismail Kadaré. His following films were international productions: The Motorcycle Diaries (2004), exploring the young Che Guevara, which achieved extraordinary acclaim, and the suspense film Dark Water (2005). In 2011, he released On the Road.