‘I’m Still Here’ Spotlights Brazil’s Authoritarian Past

Fernanda Torres poses with the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama for "I'm Still Here" at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, US, January 5, 2025. (Reuters)
Fernanda Torres poses with the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama for "I'm Still Here" at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, US, January 5, 2025. (Reuters)
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‘I’m Still Here’ Spotlights Brazil’s Authoritarian Past

Fernanda Torres poses with the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama for "I'm Still Here" at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, US, January 5, 2025. (Reuters)
Fernanda Torres poses with the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama for "I'm Still Here" at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, US, January 5, 2025. (Reuters)

A white house in a quiet corner of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has been attracting a stream of visitors in recent weeks.

They are eager to see the family home portrayed in the Academy Awards nominee film "I’m Still Here", in which a mother of five rebuilds her life while struggling to uncover the truth about her husband's forced disappearance during Brazil’s military regime in the 1970s.

"We came here to pay homage to the family," said visitor Daniela Gurgel, as she roamed through the house. "Raising this story at this time is very important."

The film's three Oscar nominations - best picture, best international feature, and best lead actress - cast a global spotlight on both the real story of Eunice Paiva and her husband Rubens Paiva, and the authoritarian government that upended their lives. The military ruled Brazil between 1964 and 1985.

"Seeing the world watch this story is the recognition of a struggle that my family has been fighting for over 50 years," said Marcelo Rubens Paiva, the son of Eunice and Rubens and the author of the book on which the movie is based.

This struggle, he added, is one "for respect for human rights and democracy."

Brazil's dictatorship ended four decades ago but no one has ever been held accountable for the murder of hundreds of its critics or the torture of what many believe were tens of thousands. Even Rubens Paiva's disappearance, one of the most emblematic cases of human rights abuse of that time, is still an open case before Brazil's Supreme Court. His body was never found.

In 2010, the court upheld a 1979 law, passed during the dictatorship, that pardoned the crimes committed by the regime. But prosecutors and others who oppose the ruling still have cases pending before the court, including Paiva's.

On Friday, the Brazilian government provided families some relief.

Rubens Paiva's death certificate was amended to register that the cause of his death was "unnatural, violent, caused by the Brazilian State in the context of systematic persecution of the population identified as political dissidents of the dictatorial regime established in 1964".

Actress Fernanda Torres, who plays Eunice Paiva in the movie, said: "They did everything they could so that there would be no body, so that there would be no memory, so that it would not be spoken of, so that it would remain hidden in a corner."

But, she added: "This story will not be forgotten."

More than 400 other death certificates from victims of the military dictatorship all over Brazil will be rectified in an effort led by the Special Commission on Political Deaths and Disappearances under former human rights minister Nilmario Miranda.

"The film came as a gift from heaven for us, because it deals with a political disappearance," Miranda said. "The families feel that Brazil needs it. This debt to democracy is being redeemed now."



‘Conclave’ Wins Best Picture at BAFTAs as ‘The Brutalist’ Takes Directing and Acting Prizes 

British actor Ralph Fiennes poses on the red carpet at the 2025 EE BAFTA Film Awards at the Royal Festival Hall in London, Britain, 16 February 2025. (EPA)
British actor Ralph Fiennes poses on the red carpet at the 2025 EE BAFTA Film Awards at the Royal Festival Hall in London, Britain, 16 February 2025. (EPA)
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‘Conclave’ Wins Best Picture at BAFTAs as ‘The Brutalist’ Takes Directing and Acting Prizes 

British actor Ralph Fiennes poses on the red carpet at the 2025 EE BAFTA Film Awards at the Royal Festival Hall in London, Britain, 16 February 2025. (EPA)
British actor Ralph Fiennes poses on the red carpet at the 2025 EE BAFTA Film Awards at the Royal Festival Hall in London, Britain, 16 February 2025. (EPA)

Papal thriller “Conclave” won four prizes including best picture on Sunday at the 78th British Academy Film Awards, where genre-bending musical “Emilia Pérez” proved that it’s still an awards contender despite a multipronged backlash that looked to have dented its chances.

At a ceremony where no film dominated, “The Brutalist” equaled the awards tally of “Conclave," scooping four trophies, including best director for Brady Corbet and best actor for Adrien Brody. Mikey Madison won the best actress prize for Brooklyn tragicomedy “Anora.”

“Conclave,” which stars Ralph Fiennes as a cardinal corralling conniving clergy as they elect a new pope, beat “Anora,” “The Brutalist,” “Emilia Pérez” and Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” to the top prize. “Conclave” was also named outstanding British film and took trophies for editing and adapted screenplay.

Supporting performer prizes went to Kieran Culkin for “A Real Pain” and Zoe Saldaña for “Emilia Pérez,” which also won the award for best film not in the English language.

From the BAFTAs to the Oscars

Stars including Cynthia Erivo, Hugh Grant, Ariana Grande, Lupita Nyong’o, Timothée Chalamet and Saoirse Ronan walked the red carpet at London’s Royal Festival Hall for the awards, known as BAFTAs. The British prizes often provide clues about who will triumph at Hollywood’s Academy Awards on March 2, in an unusually hard-to-call awards season.

They also have a distinctly British accent. The ceremony kicked off with its kilt-wearing host, Scottish actor David Tennant, leading the audience in a rousing singalong of The Proclaimers’ anthem “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles).”

Madison won the female acting trophy for her powerhouse performance as an exotic dancer entangled with a Russian oligarch's son in “Anora.” She beat Karla Sofía Gascón, Demi Moore for body-horror film “The Substance,” Ronan for “The Outrun,” Erivo for “Wicked” and Marianne Jean-Baptiste for “Hard Truths.”

Brody beat competition from Fiennes, Chalamet, who plays the young Dylan in “A Complete Unknown,” Grant for the horror film “Heretic,” Colman Domingo for prison drama “Sing Sing” and Sebastian Stan for his portrayal of a young Donald Trump in “The Apprentice.”

Brody, who plays a Hungarian-Jewish architect in the postwar United States, said “The Brutalist” carried a powerful message for our divided times.

“It speaks to the need for all of us to share in the responsibility of how we want others to be treated and how we want to be treated by others,” he said. “There's no place any more for antisemitism. There's no place for racism.”

“The Brutalist” also won prizes for its cinematography and musical score.

“A Real Pain,” about mismatched cousins on a trip to explore their roots, won the BAFTA for best original screenplay, as well as Culkin's acting award.

“I’d like to share this with my wife, who didn’t come because she didn’t think I’d win,” quipped writer-director Jesse Eisenberg, who also co-starred in the film.

Claymation caper “Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” won awards for best animated feature and best family and children’s film.

Sci-fi epic “Dune: Part Two” won prizes for sound and visual effects, while blockbuster musical “Wicked” took the costume and production design trophies.

Rising stars and lifetime honors

Most BAFTA winners are chosen by 8,000 members of the UK academy of industry professionals, with one — the Rising Star Award — selected by public vote from a shortlist of nominees. This year's winner was David Jonsson, star of high finance TV drama series “Industry” and London rom-com “Rye Lane.”

“Star, I don’t know,” he said. “But rising, I guess.”

The prize for best British debut went to Rich Peppiatt, writer-director of Irish-language hip-hop drama “Kneecap.”

“Willow” and “Return of the Jedi” actor Warwick Davis received the academy’s top honor, the BAFTA Fellowship, for his screen career and work to create a more inclusive film industry.

The 3-foot, 6-inch (1.1-meter) actor founded a talent agency for actors under 5 feet tall, because, he said, “short actors weren’t known for their talent, just their height.”

“This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me — and I’ve been in ‘Star Wars,’” Davis said as he accepted his award.

This awards season has been clouded by last month’s devastating Los Angeles wildfires, and BAFTA chairwoman Sara Putt sent a message of strength to everyone affected,

The event was without a dash of royal glamour this year. Neither Prince William, who is honorary president of the British film academy, nor his wife Kate attended the ceremony, which coincided with school holidays for their three children.

William, 42, sent a video message, recorded during a visit to meet students at the London Screen Academy on Wednesday.

During the visit, the heir to the throne discussed his own viewing habits, saying he’d watched World War II drama “Darkest Hour” and had begun postapocalyptic TV drama “The Last of Us.” He said he found it “quite full on” and didn’t make it to the end.