Brazilians jubilant at ‘I’m Still Here’ historic Oscar nomination for best picture

SAO PAULO: As the long-awaited Oscar nominations were released on Thursday, Brazilians flooded social media cheering and celebrating every mention of “I’m Still Here” - a total of three.

Directed by Brazilian Walter Salles, and co-produced with France, the film picked up nominations for best picture, best international feature, and best actress, for Fernanda Torres.

The combined nomination in the two top movie categories is unprecedented for Brazil, and enhances the likelihood of a prize, according to cinema experts.

It is also the first time a Brazilian film in which actors only speak Portuguese is nominated for best picture, the Oscars’ most important award.

“It’s a great sign. ‘I’m Still Here’ is competing with films from all over the world, as well as from non-English-speaking countries,” said Carlos Augusto Calil, a filmmaker and the president of the council at Cinemateca Brasileira, the institution responsible for preserving and promoting Brazil’s audiovisual production.

In 1986, Brazil-USA co-production “Kiss of the Spider Woman” was also nominated for best picture, as well as best adapted screenplay, best director for Hector Babenco, and best actor, for which William Hurt got the prize.

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“But it was spoken in English,” said Andre Sturm, a filmmaker and director at the Museum of Image and Sound. “Having a film spoken in Portuguese in the top Oscars category is historic.”

Best actress nominee Torres said in a post on Instagram that she was proud to see a Brazilian story “making sense in the world”.

“I’m Still Here” tells the story of Eunice Paiva, a mother of five who struggles to discover the truth about her husband’s disappearance during the military dictatorship in Brazil and to rebuild her life.

“The fact that our movie was nominated not only for foreign language film, but also for best film of the year is something unimaginable,” Torres said.

Other films that have been nominated both for best picture and best international feature film at the Oscars in recent years include “Parasite” in 2020 and “The Zone of Interest” in 2024, which won at least in one of the categories.

However, “I’m Still Here” prizes are not a given, especially considering that France-Mexico co-production “Emilia Perez” is also running for the best picture and best international feature Oscars, among its total 14 nominations.