‘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."



Death of South Korean Actor at 24 Sparks Discussion About Social Media and Internet Culture 

South Korean actor Kim Sae-ron arrives at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 5, 2023. (Yonhap via AP)
South Korean actor Kim Sae-ron arrives at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 5, 2023. (Yonhap via AP)
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Death of South Korean Actor at 24 Sparks Discussion About Social Media and Internet Culture 

South Korean actor Kim Sae-ron arrives at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 5, 2023. (Yonhap via AP)
South Korean actor Kim Sae-ron arrives at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 5, 2023. (Yonhap via AP)

South Korean actor Kim Sae-ron’s death this week has triggered an outpouring of grief and calls for changes to the way the country’s celebrities are treated in the public arena and on social media, which critics say can foster a culture of harassment.

The 24-year-old, who began her career as a child actor and earned acclaim for her roles in several domestic films, including the 2010 crime noir “The Man from Nowhere,” was found dead by a friend at her home in the country’s capital, Seoul, on Sunday. The National Police Agency has said that officers are not suspecting foul play and that Kim left no note.

Once among the brightest stars on South Korea’s vibrant movie and television scene, Kim struggled to find work after a 2022 drunk driving incident, for which she was later fined in court.

Online posts in South Korea are notoriously harsh toward celebrities who make missteps, especially women, and Kim faced constant negative coverage from news organizations that capitalized on public sentiment.

Newspapers and websites criticized her whenever she was seen partying with friends, or when she complained about her lack of work and nasty comments on social media. She was even criticized for smiling while filming an independent movie last year.

Following Kim’s death, several of the country’s major newspapers on Tuesday published editorials and opinion pieces lambasting the toxic online comments about the actor. Some invoked the 2019 deaths of K-Pop singers Seol-li and Goo Hara and the 2023 death of “Squid Games” actor Lee Sun-kyun while calling for a change in the “harsh, zero-tolerance” culture toward celebrities.

The Hankook Ilbo newspaper said the country's media outlets were part of the problem, lamenting that some outlets continued to exploit Kim for clicks even after her death, using provocative headlines that highlighted her past struggles.

The watchdog Citizens’ Coalition for Democratic Media on Tuesday criticized news organizations for blaming social media without considering their own “sensational and provocative reporting.”

Born in 2000, Kim began her acting career at age 9, with the 2009 film “A Brand New Life,” portraying a girl’s struggles to adjust to a new life after being left at an orphanage by her father. She rose to stardom with “The Man from Nowhere,” which was one of the biggest hits in the South Korean movie scene that year and won her a domestic acting award.

She starred in various movies and TV shows before the 2022 drunk driving incident.

Gold Medalist, Kim's former management agency, did not immediately answer calls for comment.