Goodbye Solo is a 2008 American independent film written and directed by Ramin Bahrani. It premiered as an official selection of the 2008 Venice Film Festival where it won the international film critic s FIPRESCI award for best film, and later had its North American premiere at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival. The film is distributed by Roadside Attractions. The film exhibits significant thematic and plot similarities to Abbas Kiarostami s 1997 film Taste of Cherry.

Plot

Solo, a Senegalese cab driver, is working to provide a better life for his young family in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. William, an old man with a lifetime of regrets, hires Solo to take him to Blowing Rock, a peak in which updrafts cause objects that are dropped from it to fly upwards. William does not ask for a ride back from the rock and is obviously depressed, so Solo assumes that the old man intends to commit suicide there. Solo befriends William, in hopes of talking him out of ending his life. He introduces William to his wife and his stepdaughter Alex, hoping to inspire the old man with the joys of life. Solo takes William in his taxi to Blowing Rock, and returns without him.

Cast

• Souléymane Sy Savané as Solo
• Red West as William
• Diana Franco Galindo as Alex

Reception

Goodbye Solo won the Venice Film Festival’s FIPRESCI International Critics Prize. It was hailed as A force of nature! by Roger Ebert. The New York Times A.O. Scott said it has …an uncanny ability to enlarge your perception of the world. Eric M. Armstrong, critic at The Moving Arts Film Journal, placed Goodbye Solo at #5 on his list of the best films of the decade (2000–2009).

Awards

FIPRESCI International Film Critics Award – Best Film, Venice Film Festival 2008.

On December 1, 2009 it was announced that Souleymane Sy Savane was nominated for Best Male Lead for the 2010 Independent Spirit Awards.

Year	2008
ReleaseDate	2009-08-26
RuntimeMins	91
RuntimeStr	1h 31min
Plot	Two men form an unlikely friendship that will change both of their lives forever.
Awards	Awards, 3 wins & 9 nominations
Directors	Ramin Bahrani
Writers	Bahareh Azimi, Ramin Bahrani
Stars	Souleymane Sy Savane, Red West, Diana Franco Galindo
Produced by	Ramin Bahrani,Steve Bannatyne,Kathryn Dean,Brian Devine,Brooke Devine,Sally Jo Fifer,Jason Orans,Summer Shelton
Music by	M. Lo
Cinematography by	Michael Simmonds
Film Editing by	Ramin Bahrani
Production Design by	Chad Keith
Art Direction by	Adam Willis
Production Management	David Laster,Richard O’Connell,Adam Spielberg
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Alexandra Dimopoulos,Scott Kyger
Art Department	Javed Noorullah,Jennifer Wynn O’Kelly
Sound Department	Claire Bell,Leslie Bloome,Tom Efinger,Jonathan FitzSimons,Eric Gitelson,Christopher Holmes,Jack Hutson,Giles Khan,Robert Kirk,Alicia Loving,Abigail Savage,Nicholas Schenck,David Scott,Jeff Seelye,Brian Sides
Special Effects by	Casey Tow
Camera and Electrical Department	Hooman Bahrani,Derrick M. Brown,Matthew Clark,Keith Cutler,Cory Doggett,Vince Gonzalez,Anthony Gregory,Anthony Holderfield,Linda Kallerus,Mark Koenig,Marcus Mizelle,Joseph Paolini,David Short,Travis Van Sweden
Casting Department	Maura Anderson,Sandra Trujillo De Moyano,Freddy Schaefer,Summer Shelton
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Tory Hoke,Konzie Koenig,Rebecca Moore
Editorial Department	Ed Beyer,Sal Caino,Katie Haggerty,Matt Luxenberg,Joe Monge,John Rehberger,Jane Tolmachyov
Music Department	Claire Bell,Joe Rudge,Nick Snow
Script and Continuity Department	Nicholas Elliott
Additional Crew	Jacob Atchley,Hooman Bahrani,Keren Golani Barnett,Alessandra Bazo,Andrew Beguin,Marcia Carver,Kat Comfort,David Frisco,Jonathan Gray,Christopher Holmes,Javon Jackson,Alessandro Masi,Trevor Metscher,Rebecca Moore,Alexandre Moratto,Dana O’Keefe,Sarah Porter,Juliana Robles,Pamela Ryan,Ramona Sadiq,Adam Spielberg,Casey Tow,Ben Wolf
Thanks	Anan Abour,Aravind Adiga,Azzat Ali,Khosrow Bahrani,Nasrin Bahrani,Boaty Boatwright,Mahen Bonetti,Margaret Brown,Joe Budd,Anne Carey,Sandra Trujillo De Moyano,Sanjay Desai,Stratos Fesentinos,Pradip Ghosh,Beverly D. Graham,Ann Guill,Patrick Haischer,Miriam Hayes,Robert Hayes,Ted Hope,Ava Jamshidi,Vinay Jayaram,Dan Kleeberg,Angus MacLachlan,Regina Moore,Catherine Morton,Phil Newsome,Virginia Roseman,Wendy Stafford,Joey Thomas,Mina Vakilvadeh,Chris Veal,Tim Watson,Robin Willard,Irwin Young
Genres	Drama
Companies	Gigantic Pictures, ITVS International, Lucky Hat Entertainment
Countries	USA
Languages	English, French, Wolof, Spanish
ContentRating	R
ImDbRating	7.3
ImDbRatingVotes	5973
MetacriticRating	89
Keywords	friendship,north carolina,senegalese,box office,pregnancy