Brazilian director Walter Salles (L) accepts the award for Best International Feature Film for “I’m Still Here” from Spanish actress Penelope Cruz onstage during the 97th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on March 2, 2025.
Brazilian political drama I’m Still Here won the prestigious prize for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards. The film, directed by Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries), prevailed over the controversial heavyweight Emilia Pérez as well as Flow, The Seed of the Sacred and The Girl with the Needle.
This is the first time a Brazilian film has won Best International Feature. Set during and after the military dictatorship in Brazil, the film tells the story of Eunice Paiva (played in the film by Fernanda Montenegro), a woman dealing with the forced disappearance of her husband.
Writers Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega adapted the story of I’m Still Here from the memoir of Marcelo Rubens Paiva, Eunice’s son.
In its review of I’m Still Here, The Hindu wrote: “Two decades after Salles made The Motorcycle Diaries, on Che Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado’s life-changing road trip across South America, he comes up with a highly political film that speaks to the current times.”
The 97th Academy Awards are being held at the Dolby Theatre in LA. It’s streaming in India on JioHotstar.
Published – March 03, 2025 08:50 am IST
