I'm Still Here | |
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Portuguese | Ainda Estou Aqui |
Directed by | Walter Salles |
Screenplay by |
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Based on | I'm Still Here by Marcelo Rubens Paiva |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Adrian Teijido |
Edited by | Affonso Gonçalves |
Music by | Warren Ellis |
Production companies |
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Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 135 minutes |
Countries |
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Language | Portuguese |
Budget | R$ 8 million (US$1.48 million) [1] |
Box office | US$10.1 million [2] |
I'm Still Here (Portuguese : Ainda Estou Aqui) is a 2024 political biographical drama film directed by Walter Salles from a screenplay by Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega, based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva's 2015 book Ainda Estou Aqui. It stars Fernanda Torres and Fernanda Montenegro as Eunice Paiva, a mother and activist searching for her missing husband, the dissident politician Rubens Paiva, during the military dictatorship in Brazil. [3] Soon after its release in Brazilian theaters on 7 November 2024, the film was the target of an unsuccessful boycott by the Brazilian far-right. [4] [5] [6] Grossing $10.1 million on a $1.5 million production budget, it became the highest grossing Brazilian film since the COVID-19 pandemic. [7]
The film had its world premiere on 1 September 2024 at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, [8] where it received critical acclaim, with unanimous praise towards Torres' performance, [9] winning the Best Screenplay award. [10] It was named one of the Top 5 International Films of 2024 by the National Board of Review. [11] At the 82nd Golden Globe Awards, it received two nominations for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for Torres, and a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the 30th Critics' Choice Awards. It was selected as the Brazilian entry for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards. [12]
Rio de Janeiro, 1971, the lives of Eunice Paiva and her five children abruptly change after the disappearance of her husband, former Brazilian Labour Party congressman Rubens Paiva.
The screenplay was written by Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega, and adapted from the memoir Ainda Estou Aqui by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, Eunice's son. Hauser also co-wrote the screenplay for Karim Aïnouz's The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão (2019), based on the novel of the same name by Martha Batalha.
Principal photography began in June 2023 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. [14] The film was produced by RT Features and VideoFilmes in co-production with Globoplay, Mact Productions, Conspiração Filmes and Arte France Cinéma.
In May 2024, Sony Pictures Classics acquired distribution rights to I'm Still Here in North America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Turkey, Portugal, Australia and New Zealand at the Marché du Film. [3]
The film had its world premiere at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on 1 September 2024, receiving a standing ovation of over 10 minutes; [15] it was nominated for the Golden Lion [8] and won the Best Screenplay prize. [16] It was also screened at the Toronto, New York and London film festivals in September and October. [17] [18]
To qualify for the Best International Feature Film category at the 97th Academy Awards, the film was given a limited theatrical run in the Brazilian city of Salvador from 19 to 25 September 2024, [19] followed by a nationwide release on 7 November by Sony Pictures Releasing. [20]
I'm Still Here is set to be released in France on 15 January 2025 by StudioCanal. [21] In the United States, the film received a one-week awards-qualifying run in November 2024 and is set to open in New York City and Los Angeles on 17 January 2025, before expanding to a wide release on 14 February. [22]
On its opening day in Brazil, I'm Still Here brought 50,320 people to the cinemas, grossing R$1.1 million. [23] In its first weekend, even though it was the target of a frustrated boycott by the Brazilian far-right, [24] the film debuted in first place at the box office with 358,000 admissions, earning R$8.6 million, overcoming Venom: The Last Dance third week (R$6.6 million) and Red One first weekend (R$5.3 million). [25]
I'm Still Here received overwhelming praise upon release by the public, film critics and the Brazilian and international press; praise was mainly directed to Fernanda Torres' performance. [27]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 88% of 25 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.4/10. [28] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 79 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [29] Jessica Kiang of Variety praised the film and its dramatic charge: "Classical in form but radical in empathy, I'm Still Here arguably does not need the follow-up sections—one set in 1996 and the other in 2014—that somewhat alter the emotional rhythm. But on the other hand, these characters are so vivid that we don't want to leave them either". [30] For Wendy Ide of Screen Daily , Salles "never over-labours the film's emotional beats, relying instead on Torres' magnificent, intricately layered performance to drive the picture"; she also praised Montenegro, "who has a brief but exceptionally powerful cameo here as the elderly Eunice". [31]
Several international outlets applauded Fernanda Torres' work, with Collider considering it one of the best performances of the year, being "more than deserving of an Oscar nomination". [32] In her review for Deadline , Stephanie Bunbury describes the film as a "celebration of Brazil", and praises Torres, stating that the actress "has an emotional delicacy as Eunice that conveys, through the smallest and subtlest signals, what it costs her to hold back her anxiety and anger for the sake of her family. It is a performance that should catapult her into the awards race, 25 years after her mother Fernanda Montenegro was Oscar-nominated for Salles' breakthrough feature, Central Station ". [33] David Rooney in The Hollywood Reporter highlighted the relationship between Montenegro and Torres, saying "What makes the connection even more poignant is that she appears as the elderly, infirm version of the protagonist", and recognized I'm Still Here as "a gripping, profoundly touching film with a deep well of pathos. It's one of Salles' best". [34] For IndieWire, Leila Latif says Torres' performance "is as spectacular as her filmography would suggest, having marked herself out as one of the South American continent's greatest actors in roles in Foreign Land (also directed by Salles) and won a Palme d'Or for Best Actress in Love Me Forever of Never . Her Eunice possesses phenomenal strength and stoicism which make each moment of pain that peep through the chinks of her armor all the more moving", and praised her on-screen interaction with Selton Mello. [35]
It was named one of the Top 5 International Films of 2024 by the National Board of Review, [36] and one of 50 Best Films of the year by British film magazine Sight & Sound . [37]
Walter Moreira Salles Júnior is a Brazilian filmmaker, most known for his Golden Bear-winning film Central Station.
Arlette Pinheiro Esteves TorresONM, known by her stage name Fernanda Montenegro, is a Brazilian stage, television and film actress. Considered by many the greatest Brazilian actress of all time, she is often referred to as the grande dame of Brazilian theater, cinema, and performing arts. For her work in Central Station (1998), she became the first, and to date the only, Brazilian nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, as well as the first and only actress nominated for an Academy Award for a performance in a Portuguese language film. In addition, she was the first Brazilian to win the International Emmy in the category of Best Actress for her performance in Sweet Mother (2013).
Central Station is a 1998 road drama film directed by Walter Salles and starring Fernanda Montenegro, Marília Pêra and Vinícius de Oliveira. The screenplay, adapted by João Emanuel Carneiro and Marcos Bernstein from a story by its director Walter Salles, tells the story of a young boy's friendship with a jaded middle-aged woman.
Behind the Sun is a 2001 social drama film directed by Walter Salles, produced by Arthur Cohn, and starring Rodrigo Santoro. Its original Portuguese title means Shattered April, and it is based on the 1978 novel Broken April written by the Albanian writer Ismail Kadare, about the honor culture in the North of Albania.
Fernanda Pinheiro Monteiro Torres is a Brazilian film, stage and television actress and writer. She was born in Rio de Janeiro, daughter of the actress Fernanda Montenegro and the actor Fernando Torres.
Vinícius de Oliveira is a Brazilian actor.
"Estoy Aquí" is a song by Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira, taken from her third studio album Pies Descalzos (1995). It was released in 1995 by Sony Music Colombia as the lead single from the album. The song was written and produced by Shakira and Luis Fernando Ochoa. "Estoy Aquí" is a latin house song that lyrically discusses a willingness to correct a failed relationship.
Paiva is a Portuguese family surname, of toponymic origin in Paiva, today Castelo de Paiva, Portugal.
Marcelo Rubens Paiva is a Brazilian novelist, playwright, screenwriter and journalist born in São Paulo, Brazil. He is the son of Rubens Paiva, who was murdered during Brazil's military dictatorship in 1971. The impact of his father's disappearance on his family's life, specially on his mother's, Eunice Paiva, is portrayed in his autobiography Ainda estou aqui (2015) which was adapted to film in 2024.
Foreign Land is a 1995 Brazilian action film directed by Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas.
Rubens Beyrodt Paiva was a Brazilian civil engineer and politician who, as a Congressman at the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, opposed the implementation of a military dictatorship in Brazil in 1964. Due to his involvement with activities considered "subversive" by the dictatorial regime, he was apprehended by the military forces and subsequently tortured and murdered. His body was never found.
Love Me Forever or Never is a 1986 Brazilian drama film directed by Arnaldo Jabor. The film stars Fernanda Torres and Thales Pan Chacon.
Andrew "Andrucha" Waddington is a Brazilian film director, producer, and screenwriter.
KLB, launched in 2000, is the first studio album by pop trio KLB, is best known as KLB (2000) and is one of the most successful albums of the band by the number of copies sold and hit singles on the radio. It was produced by composer Piska, also responsible for most of the compositions on the disc. In this album has the first four of the main successes of KLB, which are: "A dor desse amor", "Ela Não Está Aqui", "Estou em suas mãos" and "Por que tem que ser assim?". KLB (2000) was the second best selling album in Brazil in 2000, KLB (2000) marks achieved gold record, platinum, double platinum, triple platinum disc and then diamond disc for selling more than 1 million copies. Their ranges of success are "A dor desse amor", "Estou em suas mãos", "Por que tem que ser assim?" and "Ainda Vou Te Encontrar"
Inti Briones Arredondo is a cinematographer and film producer. He is known for his work in various media formats, media digital video and motion picture film. In 2013, he was named as one of Variety Magazine's "10 Cinematographers to Watch.". His work has been noted for the sensitivity with which he approaches both rural and urban locations in different parts of the world. He has worked with Chilean filmmakers such as Raúl Ruiz, José Luis Torres Leiva, Cristián Jiménez, Alejandro Fernández Almendras and Dominga Sotomayor Castillo. Briones grew up in Lima with his Chilean mother, Sybila Arredondo, widow of José María Arguedas. At the age of 15, in Peru, he entered the Armando Robles Godoy Film and Television School. In his early 20's, he moved to Santiago, Chile; although he had already taken film courses in Peru and workshops in France, he was determined to study with Héctor Ríos Henríquez, director of photography of El chacal de Nahueltoro.
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Babenco: Tell Me When I Die is a 2019 Brazilian documentary film directed by Bárbara Paz. The film premiered at the 2019 Venice Film Festival, where it won Best Documentary on Cinema. It focuses on the last years of life of filmmaker Hector Babenco, who died in 2016, victimized by a cancer. It was selected as the Brazilian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.
Maria Lucrécia Eunice Facciolla Paiva was a lawyer and a figurehead of the anti-military dictatorship movement in Brazil. She was an advocate for the human rights of victims of political repression and their families, as well as for indigenous rights.
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