Part of Passports: An International Film Series

In this new animated feature from the team behind CHICO & RITA, a New York music journalist (voiced by Jeff Goldblum) travels to Rio de Janeiro to uncover the truth behind the mysterious disappearance of young Brazilian piano virtuoso Tenório 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.

“Throughout THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER, it’s the layer of abstraction that the art of animation provides, a process at once distancing and infused with care and affection, that gives this telling of Tenório Júnior’s story its pulse.” —Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter

“Jazz and animation make for strong bedfellows in THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER… It’s a documentary, or at least more nonfiction than not, although it has a wholly concocted framing device. And above and beyond the movie’s somewhat incongruous mixture of gritty political realism and giddy music appreciation, yes, it’s completely hand-drawn.” —Chris Willman, Variety