I'm Still Here (2024 film)

I'm Still Here (Portuguese: Ainda Estou Aqui ; Brazilian Portuguese: [aˈĩdɐ isˈtow aˈki]) 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 (Selton Mello), during the military dictatorship in Brazil. 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, which denies that the military regime was a dictatorship. Grossing $35.5 million 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, Torres won the Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama category while the film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, a category in which it was also nominated at the Critics' Choice Movie Awards and the BAFTA. At the 97th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Best Actress (Torres), Best Picture and won Best International Feature Film, becoming the first-ever Brazilian produced film to win an Academy Award.
In December 1970, Rubens Paiva lives in an idyllic house near Leblon beach with his wife Eunice and their five children. Returning to his civil career, following the revocation of his tenure at the outset of the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état, Paiva continues to support political expatriates without discussing his activities with his family.
Following the kidnapping of the Swiss ambassador to Brazil by revolutionary movements, the country faces a looming political instability. Their friends, Fernando [pt] and Dalva Gasparian, decide to seek refuge in London, taking the Paivas' eldest daughter, Vera, with them. Vera had previously witnessed military violence while returning from the cinema with her friends. 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 result in her arrest and torture for 12 days. Eliana, their teenage daughter, is also imprisoned but is released after 24 hours. Eunice is questioned about whether her husband is involved with pro-democracy movements, which she denies.
False newspaper reports claim that Rubens fled the country to exile, but Eunice and her friends suspect otherwise. With the help of lawyer Lino Machado, she files a habeas corpus petition. She also learns from family friend Bocaiuva Cunha that Rubens had been secretly helping political exiles. A former teacher, Martha, confirms she was imprisoned with Rubens but is afraid to speak out publicly. She later writes a letter detailing her arrest. Félix, a journalist and family friend, informs Eunice that Rubens was killed, but the military authorities refuses to confirm it officially. Left to care for her children alone, Eunice sells their home and moves to São Paulo, anticipating a new start close to her maternal family.
25 years later, in 1996, while receiving from the Brazilian state—now once again a democracy—Rubens Paiva's official death certificate, surrounded by journalists, Eunice calls for reparations for victims' families and accountability for the crimes of the military dictatorship. In 2014, during a family gathering surrounded by her children and grandchildren, the now 85-year-old Eunice in a wheelchair 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.
Closing title cards reveal that Paiva was murdered at the DOI-CODI headquarters between 21 and 22 January 1971. Five people were identified as responsible, yet they were never prosecuted. Eunice graduated from law school at age 48. She became one of few experts on indigenous rights in Brazil, serving as a counselor for the federal government, the World Bank, and the United Nations. She died in 2018 at the age of 89.
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.
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 in competition for the Golden Lion and won the Best Screenplay prize. In September and October it screened at various festivals including Toronto, New York, and London. It had its Asian premiere at China's Pingyao International Film Festival, where Salles was honored with the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon East-West Award. It was screened in the Limelight section of the 54th International Film Festival Rotterdam in February 2025.
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 2024 by Sony Pictures Releasing. I'm Still Here was 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 a limited theatrical release in New York City and Los Angeles on 17 January 2025, before expanding to more cities on 14 February.
The film was released on premium video on demand (PVOD) in the United States on 11 March 2025, and is set to be released on the Brazilian streaming service Globoplay on 6 April 2025.
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, surpassing the third week of Venom: The Last Dance (R$6.6 million) and fellow new release Red One (R$5.3 million).
By February 2025, the film had surpassed 5 million admissions, and became the highest-grossing Brazilian film since the COVID-19 pandemic, with earnings of US$25.2 million.
I'm Still Here received overwhelming praise upon release by the public, film critics and the press; praise was mainly directed to Fernanda Torres' performance. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 97% of 184 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.3/10. 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." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 85 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
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 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.
Filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón named it one of his favorite films of 2024, stating "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. Many other filmmakers, including Nicole Holofcener and Chad Hartigan, also cited it as among their favorite films of 2024.
In 2025, Collider ranked it at number 3 on its list of the "10 Essential Movies of the 2020s So Far," with Eddie Possehl writing "With the disease of misinformation and government corruption spreading across the real world, the story told within I'm Still Here is a vital watch for people of every age as society continues to evolve and degrade at the same time."
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.
The film received several awards and nominations. At the 82nd Golden Globe Awards, the film received two nominations: Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for Torres. Torres won in her category, becoming the first Brazilian actress to win a Golden Globe in an acting category. The film was also nominated for Best Film Not in the English Language at the 78th British Academy Film Awards. At the 97th Academy Awards, the film received three nominations including Best Picture, becoming the first time a Brazilian film is nominated in the category. The film went on to win the award for Best International Feature Film. On 17 February 2025, the film received Cinema for Peace Dove for the Most Valuable Film of the Year.