Valdés' career got a late career boost in 1994 when he teamed up with saxophone player Paquito D'Rivera to release a CD called "Bebo Rides Again". In 2000, the film "Calle 54" by Fernando Trueba brought his piano playing to a wide audience. The film showed the first collaboration between Bebo and his old friend Cachao, with whom he had never recorded before. They collaborated again on "El Arte del Sabor", which also features Carlos "Patato" Valdés and guest performances by Paquito D'Rivera. In 2003, Bebo and Diego El Cigala, a famous Spanish "cantaor" (flamenco singer), recorded the album "Lágrimas Negras" ("Black Tears"), a fusion of Cuban rhythms and flamenco vocals. In 2004, he was again filmed by Trueba, in "El milagro de Candeal" in Brazil, and later composed a score for Trueba's 2010 film "Chico and Rita", which included bits from his own life. "Chico and Rita" ends with the dedication "a Bebo".