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$12.3 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 memoir of the same name. It stars Fernanda Torres and Fernanda Montenegro as Eunice Paiva, a mother and activist coping with the forced disappearance of her husband, the dissident politician Rubens Paiva, during the military dictatorship in Brazil. [3] Soon after its release in Brazilian theaters on 7 November 2024 by Sony Pictures Releasing International, the film was the target of an unsuccessful boycott by the Brazilian far-right. [4] [5] [6] Grossing $12.3 million on a $1.5 million production budget, it became the highest-grossing Brazilian film since the COVID-19 pandemic. [7] [8] [9]
The film had its world premiere on 1 September 2024 at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, [10] where it received critical acclaim, with unanimous praise towards Torres' performance, [11] winning the Best Screenplay award. [12] It was named one of the Top 5 International Films of 2024 by the National Board of Review. [13] At the 82nd Golden Globe Awards, Torres won the Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama category, while the film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. It was also selected as the Brazilian entry for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards, making the December shortlist. [14]
In 1970, former congressman Rubens Paiva returns to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, after six years of self-exile following the revocation of his tenure at the outset of the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état. Living in an idyllic house near Leblon beach with his wife Eunice and their five children, Paiva returns to his civil career while continuing to support expatriates without discussing his activities with his family.
Following the kidnapping of the Swiss ambassador by far-left revolutionary movements, Brazil faces a looming political instability. A military raid takes place in Paiva's house, resulting in his arrest and disappearance in January 1971. Eunice's public inquiries on Rubens' whereabouts results in her arrest and torture for 12 days. Eliana, their teenage daughter, is also imprisoned but is released after 24 hours. After moderate media outrage ignited by family and friends, Eunice is unofficially informed of Rubens' fate.
25 years later, in 1996, Eunice receives from the Brazilian state — now once again a democracy — Rubens Paiva's official death certificate. In 2014, during a family gathering surrounded by her children and grandchildren, the now 85-year-old Eunice lives with advanced Alzheimer's disease. When a news report about the National Truth Commission addresses Rubens' case, a distressed Eunice appears to remember her past.
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. [16] 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; [17] it was nominated for the Golden Lion [10] and won the Best Screenplay prize. [18] It was also screened at the Toronto, New York and London film festivals in September and October. [19] [20] It was featured in the Limelight section of the 54th International Film Festival Rotterdam to be screened in February 2025. [21]
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, [22] followed by a nationwide release on 7 November by Sony Pictures Releasing. [23]
I'm Still Here was released in France on 15 January 2025 by StudioCanal. [24] 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. [25]
On its opening day in Brazil, I'm Still Here brought 50,320 people to the cinemas, grossing R$1.1 million. [26] In its first weekend, even though it was the target of a frustrated boycott by the Brazilian far-right, [27] the film debuted in first place at the box office with 358,000 admissions, earning R$8.6 million, surpassing Venom: The Last Dance third week (R$6.6 million) and Red One first weekend (R$5.3 million). [28]
By January 2025, the film had surpassed 3 million admissions, and became the highest-grossing Brazilian film since the COVID-19 pandemic, grossing US12.3 million. [7] [8]
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. [31]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 94% of 49 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.0/10.The website's consensus reads: "Carried along by Fernanda Torres' superb performance, I'm Still Here poignantly explores a nation's upheaval through one family's search for answers." [32] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 84 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". [33] 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". [34] 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". [35]
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". [29] 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 ". [36] 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". [37] 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 Best Actress Award in Love Me Forever or 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. [38]
Filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón named it one of his favorite films of 2024, saying "Watching a Walter Salles film is to be embraced in generosity, is like experiencing a gravitational pull, both lifting and grounding us at the same time with an invisible yet undeniable force. With I'm Still Here, this effect is even more compelling. [39]
It was named one of the Top 5 International Films of 2024 by the National Board of Review, [40] and one of 50 Best Films of the year by British film magazine Sight & Sound . [41]
Walter Moreira Salles Júnior is a Brazilian filmmaker and film editor. He is most known for his Golden Globe, BAFTA and Golden Bear-winning film Central Station (1998). He also known for his award winning films: The Motorcycle Diaries (2004), On the Road (2012), and I'm Still Here (2024).
Arlette Pinheiro Esteves TorresONM, known by her stage name Fernanda Montenegro, is a Brazilian actress. Considered by many as 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 from a screenplay by João Emanuel Carneiro and Marcos Bernstein, based on an original idea by Salles. It stars Fernanda Montenegro, Marília Pêra and Vinícius de Oliveira. The film tells the story of a young boy's friendship with a jaded middle-aged woman.
Fernanda Pinheiro Monteiro Torres is a Brazilian screen and stage actress and writer, known for both her comedic and dramatic roles in Brazil. Born in Rio de Janeiro to parents Fernando Torres and Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning actress Fernanda Montenegro, she grew up immersed in the world of art and performance. Torres has achieved critical acclaim for her work across film, television, theater, and literature.
"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 co-written by Shakira and Luis Fernando Ochoa and produced by the latter only. "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.
Valentina Herszage is a Brazilian actress.
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.
Bolsonarism is a far-right political phenomenon that broke out in Brazil with the rise in popularity of Jair Bolsonaro, especially during his campaign in the presidential election in Brazil in 2018, which elected him president. The Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) crisis during the Dilma Rousseff government, precipitated and accelerated by the political-economic crisis of 2014, strengthened Bolsonarist ideology and the Brazilian new right, which are part of the context of the rise of New Right populism at an international level.
Queer is a 2024 period romantic drama film directed by Luca Guadagnino from a screenplay by Justin Kuritzkes, based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs. Set in 1950s Mexico City, the film follows an outcast American expatriate who becomes infatuated with a much younger man. Jason Schwartzman, Henry Zaga, Omar Apollo, and Lesley Manville also star.
Events in the year 2025 in Brazil.
Maria Lucrécia Eunice Facciolla Paiva was a Brazilian lawyer and activist of the anti-military dictatorship movement in Brazil. After losing her husband, the former federal deputy Rubens Paiva, to the Military Dictatorship then in force and which denied her any answers regarding his whereabouts, Eunice, also in the express need to ensure the proper maintenance of herself and her children, re-entered and graduated from the Faculty of Law at the Mackensie Presbyterian University and advocated for the human rights of victims of political repression and their families, as well as for indigenous rights.
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