I’m Still Here Wins Best International Film and Celebrates in the Most Brazilian Way

This Sunday’s Oscars event saw multiple historic wins, such as I’m Still Here, making Brazil proud with its first-ever Oscar.

I’m Still Here, directed by the legendary Walter Salles, received three Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Best International Film.

The Brazilian hype on social media was inescapable, with the Academy’s posts having the majority of their comments come from Brazilians rooting for Fernanda Torres for Best Actress.

Torres and her mother, Fernanda Montenegro, are widely beloved in Brazil, as Montenegro is the first Brazilian to be nominated for Best Actress in 1999 for her work in Salles’ film Central Station. The mother-daughter pair are the second in Oscar history to have both been nominated for Best Actress, with the first being Liza Minnelli and Judy Garland.

I’m Still Here is a powerful film set in a dark time of Brazil’s history during the 1970s military dictatorship. The film centers on the real life of activist and lawyer Eunice Paiva, portrayed by Torres. It’s based on Salles’ memories of growing up around the Paiva family at thirteen and the memoir of the same name by Paiva’s son Marcelo Paiva. In the film, Paiva must reinvent herself for her family and country after the forced disappearance of her husband.

Salles has expressed how the film feels especially relevant to Brazil now, only a few years post-Bolsonaro presidency, someone who praised the same military dictatorship that repressed, disappeared, tortured, and murdered Brazilians.

He shared with CNN, “It took us seven years because, in four years, the country steered to the extreme right, and we would have never had the possibility to shoot the film during that period. Therefore, the film is the product of the return to democracy of Brazil. It’s really [Lula’s] return to the presidency and the return of democracy that allowed the film to exist. We shot it in 2023 without having the slightest idea that there had been a failed attempt of a coup d’etat.”

Salles continued, “So in the middle of…the film, we realized that more than ever, it was a film about today.”

@allanloureirooficial #oscar2025 Histórico!!! É nosso!!! “Ainda estou aqui” #brasil #fernandatorres ♬ som original – allanloureirooficial

The film was embraced not only by Brazilians across the political spectrum but also by the international community as well.

Brazilians across the country celebrated Carnival dressed as Torres holding an Oscar and even as the Oscar statuette. An indigenous community in Brazil even performed a ceremony to send good energy for the Oscar win. Many, including the musician Pablo Vittar during her concert, paused their celebrations to watch the Oscars with massive crowds cheering in the streets at the news of I’m Still Here winning Best International Film. Brazilians shared on social media that they were tapping into their World Cup energy over the win.

In his acceptance speech, Salles stated, “Thank you first in the name of Brazilian cinema. I’m so honored to receive this…in such an extraordinary group of filmmakers. This goes to a woman who, after a loss suffered during an authoritarian regime, decided not to bend and to resist. So this prize goes to her—Eunice Paiva—and it goes to the two extraordinary women who gave life to her: Fernanda Torres and Fernanda Montenegro.”

You can watch I’m Still Here at select movie theaters near you.