Oscars 2025: Brazil nominates Walter Salles' 'I'm Still Here' for Best International Feature Film

A1 Digital India News: Brazil has chosen Walter Salles' new feature film, I'm Still Here, to represent the country in next year's Oscar race for Best International Feature Film. 26 years ago Salles won an Oscar nomination in the same category for his 1998 international success, Central Station.

I'm Still Here, which premiered in Venice last month and has its North American premiere in Toronto, is Brazilian Salles' first feature in 16 years and one of his most personal works to date.

It is the story of the Rubens and Eunice Paiva family and their experience under the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985. The Paiva family were close family friends of Salles and he spent much of his youth at home with the five Paiva siblings. 

Father Rubens Paiva was a Brazilian congressman who rejected the dictatorship. In 1971 he was arrested, tortured and executed by the regime. Left alone, Eunice is forced to reinvent herself and try to hold her fractured family together.

Adapted from Marcelo Rubens Paiva's 2015 book Ainda Estu Aqui, the film stars Fernanda Torres and Selton Mello. Sony Pictures Classics holds North American rights. Brazil has been nominated for the Best International Feature Film Oscar four times but has yet to win.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will announce the shortlisted films for the 2025 Oscars on December 17. Nominations will be announced on January 17, 2025. The 97th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, March 2.