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I'm Still Here
Theatrical release poster
Portuguese	Ainda Estou Aqui
Directed by	Walter Salles
Screenplay by	Murilo Hauser Heitor Lorega
Based on	I'm Still Here by Marcelo Rubens Paiva
Produced by	Maria Carlota Bruno Rodrigo Teixeira Martine de Clermont-Tonnerre
Starring	Fernanda Torres Selton Mello Fernanda Montenegro
Cinematography	Adrian Teijido
Edited by	Affonso Gonçalves
Music by	Warren Ellis
Production companies	VideoFilmes RT Features Mact Productions Arte France Cinéma Conspiração Globoplay
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Releasing (Brazil) StudioCanal (France)
Release dates	1 September 2024 (2024-09-01) (Venice) 7 November 2024 (2024-11-07) (Brazil) 15 January 2025 (2025-01-15) (France)
Running time	135 minutes
Countries	Brazil France
Language	Portuguese
Budget	R$8 million (US$1.48 million)
Box office	US$10.7 million

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 Ainda Estou Aqui. 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. 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. Grossing $10.7 million on a $1.5 million production budget, it became the highest grossing Brazilian film since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The film had its world premiere on 1 September 2024 at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, where it received critical acclaim, with unanimous praise towards Torres' performance, winning the Best Screenplay award. It was named one of the Top 5 International Films of 2024 by the National Board of Review. At the 82nd Golden Globe Awards it received two nominations, Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for Torres, while at the 30th Critics' Choice Awards it received a nomination 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.

Plot

Rio de Janeiro, 1970, former congressman Rubens Paiva (Selton Mello) returns to Brazil after six years of self-exile, following the revocation of his mandate on the outset of the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état. Living in an idyllic house near Leblon beach with his wife Eunice (Fernanda Torres) and their five children, Paiva returns to his civil career while continues to support expatriates without discussing his activities with his family.

Following Swiss ambassador kidnapping 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 on January, 1971.

Eunice's public inquiries on Rubens whereabouts results in her arrest and torture for 12 days. Eliana (Luiza Kosovski), their teenage daughter, is also imprisoned, but is released after 24 hours. After moderate media outrage, ignited by family friends, Eunice is unofficially informed of Rubens fate.

25 years later, in 1996, Eunice receives from the Brazilian state, now a Democracy, the official Rubens Paiva's death certificate.

In 2014, during a family gathering surrounded by her children and grandchildren, the now 85 years old Eunice (Fernanda Montenegro) lives with advanced Alzheimer's. When a TV report about the National Truth Commission addresses Rubens' case, a distressed Eunice appears to remember her own past.

Cast

• Fernanda Torres as Eunice Paiva
  • Fernanda Montenegro as Eunice Paiva (older)
• Selton Mello as Rubens Paiva
• Guilherme Silveira as Marcelo Rubens Paiva
  • Antonio Saboia as Marcelo Rubens Paiva (adult)
• Valentina Herszage as Vera Paiva
  • Maria Manoella como Vera Paiva (adult)
• Luiza Kosovski as Eliana Paiva
  • Marjorie Estiano as Eliana Paiva (adult)
• Barbara Luz as Nalu Paiva
  • Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha as Nalu Paiva (adult)
• Cora Mora as Maria Beatriz Facciolla Paiva
  • Olívia Torres as Maria Beatriz Facciolla Paiva (adult)
• Pri Helena as Maria José (Zezé)
• Humberto Carrão as Félix
• Maeve Jinkings as Dalva Gasparian
• Caio Horowicz as Ricardo Gomes Pimpão
• Camila Márdila as Dalal Achcar
• Charles Fricks as Fernando Gasparian
• Luana Nastas as Helena Gasparian
• Isadora Ruppert as Laura Gasparian
• Daniel Dantas as Raul Ryff
• Maitê Padilha as Cristina
• Carla Ribas as Martha
• Dan Stulbach as Bocaiuva Cunha

Production

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. The film was produced by RT Features and VideoFilmes in co-production with Globoplay, Mact Productions, Conspiração Filmes and Arte France Cinéma.

Release

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.

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; it was nominated for the Golden Lion and won the Best Screenplay prize. It was also screened at the Toronto, New York and London film festivals in September and October.

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, followed by a nationwide release on 7 November by Sony Pictures Releasing.

I'm Still Here is set to be released in France on 15 January 2025 by StudioCanal. 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.

Reception

Box office

On its opening day in Brazil, I'm Still Here brought 50,320 people to the cinemas, grossing R$1.1 million. In its first weekend, even though it was the target of a frustrated boycott by the Brazilian far-right, 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).

Critical response

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.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 89% of 28 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.6/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 79 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. 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". 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".

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". 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". 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". 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.

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.

It was named one of the Top 5 International Films of 2024 by the National Board of Review, and one of 50 Best Films of the year by British film magazine Sight & Sound.

Accolades

See also

• List of submissions to the 97th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film
• List of Brazilian submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

References

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2. "I'm Still Here". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
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5. "Boicote a 'Ainda Estou Aqui' é vergonhoso e ignorante --e não funciona". UOL (in Brazilian Portuguese). 20 November 2024. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
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10. Tartaglione, Andreas Wiseman, Nancy (7 September 2024). "Venice Winners: Pedro Almodóvar's 'The Room Next Door' Wins The Golden Lion; Also Wins For Nicole Kidman, Brady Corbet, 'I'm Still Here' & More". Deadline. Retrieved 7 September 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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External links

• I'm Still Here at IMDb 

• 2024 films
• 2024 biographical drama films
• 2020s Brazilian films
• 2020s French films
• 2020s political drama films
• 2020s Portuguese-language films
• Arte France Cinéma films
• Brazilian biographical drama films
• Films about Brazilian military dictatorship
• Films directed by Walter Salles
• Films scored by Warren Ellis (musician)
• Films set in the 1970s
• French biographical drama films
• French political drama films
• Political drama films based on actual events
• Sony Pictures Classics films
• Wild Bunch (company) films