''They Shot the Piano Player'' () is a 2023

adult animated An adult is an animal that has reached full growth. The biological definition of the word means an animal reaching sexual maturity and thus capable of reproduction. In the human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and ...

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television show, television and feature film, film, which features Drama (film and television), dramatized Historical reenactment, re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of docu ...

film directed by

Fernando Trueba Fernando Rodríguez Trueba (born 18 January 1955), known as Fernando Trueba, is a Spanish filmmaker, writer, producer and book editor. Career Between 1974 and 1979, Trueba worked as a film critic for Spain's leading daily newspaper '' El Paí ...

and

Javier Mariscal Francisco Javier Errando Mariscal, better known as Javier Mariscal (born 9 February 1950), is a Spanish artist and designer whose work has spanned a wide range of mediums, ranging from painting and sculpture to interior design and landscaping ...

.Matt Grobar
"Sony Pictures Classics Acquires Animated Documentary ‘They Shot The Piano Player’ From Fernando Trueba & Javier Mariscal"
''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. It is updated several times a day, with en ...

'', 18 May 2023. Centred around the real-life disappearance and presumed murder of Brazilian bossa nova pianist Tenório Jr. in 1976, the film stars

Jeff Goldblum Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum ( ; born October 22, 1952) is an American actor and musician. He has starred in some of the highest-grossing films, such as ''Jurassic Park'' (1993) and ''Independence Day'' (1996), as well as their sequels. Goldblum ...

as Jeff Harris, an American music journalist investigating Tenório's case.Michael Rosser
"Sony Pictures Classics swoops on Trueba-Mariscal animation ‘They Shot The Piano Player’"
''

Screen Daily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

'', 31 May 2023. The film's soundtrack includes music by

João Gilberto João Gilberto (born João Gilberto do Prado Pereira de Oliveira – ; 10 June 1931 – 6 July 2019) was a Brazilian guitarist, singer, and composer who was a pioneer of the musical genre of bossa nova in the late 1950s. Around the world, he w ...

Caetano Veloso Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso (; born 7 August 1942) is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicália, which encompas ...

Gilberto Gil Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira (; born 26 June 1942), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician, known for both his musical innovation and political activism. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Brazil's Ministry of Culture (Brazil), Minister of ...

Vinicius de Moraes Marcus Vinícius da Cruz e Mello Moraes (19 October 1913 – 9 July 1980), better known as Vinícius de Moraes () and nicknamed "O Poetinha" ("The Little Poet"), was a Brazilian poet, diplomat, lyricist, essayist, musician, singer, and playwrig ...

and

Paulo Moura Paulo Moura (15 July 1932 – 12 July 2010) was a Brazilian clarinetist and saxophonist. Born in São José do Rio Preto, where his father was the maestro of a marching band and encouraged his son to train as a tailor, Paulo instead studied in t ...

, with some of the musicians also appearing in the voice cast as themselves testifying about Tenório's importance and influence as part of Goldblum's character investigation. The film had its world premiere at the 50th Telluride Film Festival on 6 September 2023, and was released theatrically in Spain on 6 October 2023.

Plot

Bossa Nova's origin story, deeply changed by the numerous military coups in Latin America, especially those in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, is portrayed through non-fiction interviews with

Brazilian Popular Music Brazilian commonly refers to: * Brazil, a country * Brazilians, its people * Brazilian Portuguese, its dialect Brazilian may also refer to: * "The Brazilian", a 1986 instrumental music piece by Genesis * Brazilian Café, Baghdad, Iraq (1937) * Bra ...

singers, songwriters and music critics. The film follows Jeff Harris, a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

music journalist, traveling to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

hoping to find answers on the mysterious disappearance of Brazilian pianist Tenório Jr. and his influence in Bossa Nova.

Cast

as Jeff Harris *

Tony Ramos Antônio de Carvalho Barbosa (born 25 August 1948), known professionally as Tony Ramos, is a Brazilian actor. Ramos has played leading roles in major telenovela productions for more than four decades. Many of his most famous roles share the ch ...

as João * Abel Ayala as Claudio Vellejos * Roberta Wallach as Jessica * Ângela Rabello as Suzana de Moraes * Stephen Hughes as John Rowles * Alejandra Flechner as Dõna Haydee *

as himself (archive footage) * Malena Barretto as herself * Raymundo Bittencourt as himself * Alberico Campana as himself * Umberto Contardi as himself *

Chico Buarque Francisco Buarque de Hollanda (born 19 June 1944), popularly known simply as Chico Buarque (), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer, playwright, writer, and poet. He is best known for his music, which often includes social, econom ...

as himself *

João Donato João Donato de Oliveira Neto (; 17 August 1934 – 17 July 2023) was a Brazilian jazz and bossa nova pianist as well as a trombonist from Rio Branco. He first worked with Altamiro Carrilho and went on to perform with Antonio Carlos Jobim an ...

as himself *

as himself (archive footage) *

Edu Lobo Eduardo de Góes "Edu" Lobo (born August 29, 1943) is a Brazilian singer, guitarist, and composer. In the 1960s he was part of the bossa nova movement. His compositions include ''Upa Neguinho'' (with Gianfrancesco Guarnieri), ''Pra Dizer ...

as himself *

Milton Nascimento Milton Silva Campos do Nascimento (; born October 26, 1942), also known as Bituca, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Nascimento has recorded 32 studio albums and has won five Grammy Awards, including Best World Music ...

as himself *

Toquinho Antônio Pecci Filho (born July 6, 1946), better known as Toquinho (), is a Brazilian singer and guitarist. He is well known for his collaborations, as composer and performer, with Vinicius de Moraes. Childhood and musical studies Toquinho was ...

as himself *

as himself

Distribution

An excerpt screened as work in progress at the 2023

Annecy International Animation Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France. Initially occurring ever ...

, before having its official world premiere at the 50th Telluride Film Festival. It also screened at various film festivals, including

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Cinéfest Sudbury,

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

San Sebastián San Sebastián, officially known by the bilingual name Donostia / San Sebastián (, ), is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the France–Spain border ...

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

and BFI London, before its commercial premiere in October. In May 2023,

Sony Pictures Classics Sony Pictures Classics Inc. is an American arthouse film production and distribution company that is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment. It was founded in 1992 by former Orion Classics heads Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloo ...

acquired distribution rights to the film for the United States, Canada, Latin America, Scandinavia, India, the Middle East, Turkey, Southeast Asia (excluding Taiwan and South Korea) and airlines within the aforementioned territories. The film was released in a limited one-week awards-qualifying run in select theaters in New York and Los Angeles from November 24 to 30, 2023, with a wider release in February 2024. In Portugal, the film was distributed by Films4You and premiered in theaters on March 21, 2024. In Japan, the film was co-distributed by

Gonzo Gonzo may refer to: People * Gonzo (nickname), a list of people with the nickname * Radislav Jovanov Gonzo (born 1964), Croatian music video director Radislav Jovanov, also known as Gonzo * Matthias Röhr (born 1962), German musician whose stage ...

and 2Metertainmment and premiered in theaters on April 11, 2025.

Reception

Critical response

Top ten lists

The film appeared on a critics' top ten list of the best Spanish films of 2023: * 8th — ''

El Confidencial ''El Confidencial'' is a Spanish-language general-information digital newspaper located in Spain, specializing in economic, financial and political news. It was established as an online newspaper in 2001. Its target readership is professional ...

'' (consensus)

Accolades

, - , , ,

29th Forqué Awards The 29th Forqué Awards, organised by , were presented on 16 December 2023 at the IFEMA Palacio Municipal in Madrid. Background Organised by EGEDA, the ceremony has the participation of Ayuntamiento de Madrid, the Madrid regional administratio ...

, , colspan = "2" , Best Animation Film , , , , , - , rowspan = "3" , , ,

16th Gaudí Awards The 16th Gaudí Awards ceremony, presented by the Catalan Film Academy, took place on 4 February 2024 at the complex in Barcelona. Background A record number of 81 productions were presented as candidates to the awards, of which a 40% had Cata ...

, , colspan = "2" , Best Animated Film , , , , , - ,

38th Goya Awards The 38th Goya Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain, took place at the premises in Valladolid, Castile and León on 10 February 2024. The ceremony was broadcast on La 1 (Spanish TV channel), La 1 ...

, , colspan = "2" ,

Best Animated Film The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Bes ...

, , , , , - ,

11th Platino Awards The 11th Platino Awards, presented by the Entidad de Gestión de Derechos de los Productores Audiovisuales (EGEDA) and the Federación Iberoamericana de Productores Cinematográficos y Audiovisuales (FIPCA), took place at Gran Tlachco Theater in R ...

, , colspan = "2" , Best Animated Film , , , ,

References

External links

* {{Fernando Trueba 2023 films 2023 animated films 2023 drama films Films set in Rio de Janeiro (city) Spanish adult animated films Spanish drama films Spanish musical films Spanish documentary films Dutch animated films Dutch drama films Dutch musical films Dutch documentary films French adult animated films French animated drama films French docudrama films French musical films Portuguese adult animated films Portuguese drama films Portuguese documentary films Portuguese musical films Peruvian animated films Peruvian drama films Peruvian documentary films Peruvian musical films French animated documentary films Films about the Brazilian military dictatorship Films about missing people Films about music and musicians 2020s Spanish-language films 2020s Portuguese-language films 2020s English-language films English-language Spanish films English-language French films English-language Dutch films English-language Portuguese films Sony Pictures Classics animated films Tondero Producciones films Films directed by Fernando Trueba English-language Peruvian films Animated films based on actual events Animated films set in the 1970s Animated films set in Argentina 2020s Spanish films 2020s French films 2020s Peruvian films 2020s Portuguese films