Bossa nova, repercussions of authoritarianism collide in ‘They Shot the Piano Player’

Piano player Francisco Tenório Júnior, was a rising star in the Brazilian music scene of the ‘70s; he went missing and was presumed murdered in Argentina, 1976. His disappearance is investigated in the animated documentary/reenactment “They Shot the Piano Player,” directed by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal. But it wasn’t until 2004 that his interest took him on a winding path that would conclude with the creation of “They Shot the Piano Player,” an animated documentary about the tragic case of Brazilian pianist Francisco Tenório Júnior, whose life was cut short under troubling circumstances in 1976 while on a trip to perform in Buenos Aires, Argentina. An American journalist character stands in for writer and co-director Fernando Trueba in “They Shot the Piano Player.” The animated documentary/reenactment investigates the disappearance of a rising star in the Brazilian music scene of the ‘70s. Francisco Tenório Júnior in a recording session in the film “They Shot the Piano Player,” which both investigates his disappearance in 1976 Argentina and celebrates the bossa nova music of the time.