‘Rio,’ ‘Ice Age’ Director Carlos Saldanha on ‘Wonderful Homecoming’ With Ambitious Brazilian Adventure Film ‘100 Days’: ‘It Deserved a Big Cinema Treatment’
Director Carlos Saldanha is bringing *100 Days*, a film about Brazilian explorer Amyr Klink’s solo Atlantic crossing, to the Rio Film Festival as its closing gala. The project took nearly a decade to reach the screen, and marks Saldanha’s first live-action feature after directing animated hits including *Rio* and *Ice Age*.
Adapted from Klink’s book, the film follows his 1984 journey from Africa to Brazil in a small rowing boat. Filipe Bragança plays Klink, with Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu as his mother; Saldanha says he researched Klink’s inner life with help from the explorer and people close to him. The production used a large water tank for night and storm scenes, and its special effects were developed over two years by teams in São Paulo and Finland.
- *100 Days* closes this year’s Rio Film Festival.
- The film tells the story of Amyr Klink’s 1984 solo crossing.
- Saldanha spent nearly a decade bringing the project to screen.
New here? Start with this
Amyr Klink is a Brazilian explorer who, in 1984, rowed alone across the Atlantic from Africa to Brazil in a small boat. The film is based on his account of that voyage and stars Filipe Bragança as Klink, with Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu playing his mother.
Carlos Saldanha is a Brazilian director known for animated films such as Rio and Ice Age. This is his first live-action feature, a change that called for filming on water and creating storm and night scenes with large-scale effects. The story connects a major feat of Brazilian exploration with a filmmaker’s return to his home country’s cinema.