BAFF - THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER

In New York, a music journalist discovers by chance the existence of the virtuoso Brazilian jazz pianist Francisco Tenório Jr. Upon enquiry, he learns that the pianist disappeared with the poet Vinicius de Moraes after a concert in Buenos Aires, on the eve of the 1976 coup in Argentina. His body was never found. The journalist decides to investigate to clear up this mysterious and tragic disappearance... In this docudrama directed by Fernando Trueba, the journalist – played by American actor Jeff Goldblum, himself a jazz pianist – becomes the director's fictional alter ego, who scrupulously collects testimonies, as rare as they are precious, to shed light on the early disappearance of a prodigy for whom a great artistic future was destined. His quest for the truth takes him to Brazil and Argentina where he meets the leading figures of bossa nova and jazz, including João Gilberto, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Chico Buarque and Milton Nascimento. Much more than an investigation into a news event, They shot the piano player is an animated and fascinating thriller that paints a portrait of the Golden Age of Brazilian music and its incredible vitality and creative freedom just before Latin America fell prey to the totalitarian regimes of military dictatorships.