I’m Still Here has won the Oscar for best international film at the Academy Awards, which are currently taking place in Los Angeles. It is the first Brazilian film to win the award – and was also the first to be nominated.
Directed by Walter Salles and starring Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here is a political drama based on the true story of Eunice Paiva, whose husband Rubens was “disappeared” and murdered in 1970s Brazil. The film had to overcome a lineup including Danish true-crime story The Girl With the Needle, Iran-set legal drama The Seed of the Sacred Fig and trans gangster musical Emilia Pérez, which had been the hot favourite for the award.
Salles has previously been nominated in this category for his 1998 drama Central Station, but was passed over in favour of Italian Holocaust comedy Life Is Beautiful. I’m Still Here has picked up a string of awards, including best screenplay at the Venice film festival and the audience award at Rotterdam. Torres, who has been acclaimed on the awards circuit, is the daughter of Fernanda Montenegro, who was Oscar nominated for Central Station.
Speaking on the podium, Salles dedicated the win to Paiva, and to the “two women who gave life to her”: Torres and Montenegro.
I’m Still Here is likely to have benefited from the difficulties besetting Emilia Pérez – when the Oscar nominations were announced, the latter film led the field, but its awards campaign was rocked after bigoted posts were discovered in Karla Sofía Gascón’s social media feed, along with complaints over the depiction of Mexico and its history.
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