I’m Still Here comes to UK and Irish cinemas on February 21.
Set in Rio de Janeiro in the early 1970s, Brazil is facing the tightening grip of a military dictatorship. There, we meet the Paivas family: Rubens (Selton Mello), Eunice (Fernanda Torres), and their five children, with their beachfront rented home always open to friends. The affection and humour they share among themselves are their own subtle forms of resistance to the oppression that hangs over the country. But when they suffer a violent and arbitrary act, their lives change forever. In the aftermath, Eunice is forced to reinvent herself and carve out a new future for herself and her children. The moving story of this family, based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s bestselling memoir, helped to reconstruct an important part of Brazil’s hidden history.
I’m Still Here is Brazil’s official entry for International Film at this year’s Academy Awards. It has been nominated for two Golden Globes, non-English Language Film and Best Actress (Drama) for Torres, Critics Choice Award for Best Foreign Language Film and won Best Screenplay at the Venice Film Festival.
The film has been a remarkable box office success in its native Brazil. Since its cinema release last month, it has become the biggest Brazilian film of 2024 with over 2.6 million admissions, grossing over $9,000,000 (USD) so far, making it Walter Salles’ biggest movie ever in Brazil and captivating audiences nationwide.
Directed by Walter Salles and starring Fernanda Torres, Selton Mello and Fernanda Montenegro, the film is written by Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega, based on the book by Marcelo Rubens Paiva. Producers are Maria Carlota Bruno, Rodrigo Teixeira and Martine de Clermont-Tonnerre. Executive Producers are Giulherme Terra, Thierry de Clermont-Tonnerre, Lourenço Sant’anna, Renata Brandão, Juliana Capelini, David Taghioff and Masha Magonova. I’m Still Here also features an original score by Warren Ellis.
Director Walter Salles said, “When I first read I’m Still Here by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, I was deeply moved. For the first time, the story of the desaparecidos, the people snatched from their lives by the Brazilian dictatorship, was being told from the perspective of those left behind. In the experience of one woman – Eunice Paiva, a mother of five – there was both the story of how to live through loss and a mirror of the wound left on a nation. It was also personal: I knew this family and was friends with the Paiva children. Their house remains etched in my memory. During the seven years we spent creating I’m Still Here, life in Brazil veered dangerously close to that past – which made it all the more urgent to tell this story.”
Follow Us