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by Cláudio Alves

Latin Blood: The Ballad Of Ney Matogrosso | © Netflix

Last Thursday, Americans celebrated Juneteenth, but south of the Equator, Latin America's largest nation was in a cinephile mood. It was Brazilian Cinema Day, marking 127 years since Affonso Segreto shot what is considered the earliest cinematic depiction of Brazil in film history. A century and change after cameras first glimpsed the Guanabara Bay, the country's having a moment on the world stage. In the space of a few months, we saw such titles as I'm Still Here, The Blue Trail, and The Secret Agent win big at the Oscars, Berlinale, and Cannes. However, within Brazilian borders, other success stories have flourished, largely overlooked by international onlookers. Consider Vitória with Fernanda Montenegro delivering a staggering star turn at 95, and today's subject, the word-of-mouth box office phenomenon that is Homem com H.

Known as Latin Blood: The Ballad of Ney Matogrosso in English-language markets,...

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil – Brazil’s Fernanda Torres, a Golden Globe winner and Oscar nominee for “I’m Still Here,” will star in and has written the screenplay of “Os Corretores,” a feature from Brazilian production powerhouse Conspiraçao that is scheduled to go into production by the end of this year.

Andrucha Waddington (“House of Sand”), a partner at Conspiracao and Torres’ husband, will helm the pic. Globo Filmes, the theatrical arm of Globo Group, will co-produce.

Manuel Belmar, Globo’s director of digital products, will announce “Os Corretores” during the company’s panel today at Rio2C, Latin America’s largest creativity event that unspools in Rio de Janeiro from May 27 to June 1.

“Os Corretores” is described as a real estate tragic comedy. The plot is centers on a couple of real estate agents. Torres play the female lead, and male leading role has yet to be cast.

For her...

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Nora Aunor in Miracle (1982)

World cinema has lost an acting legend. Yesterday, the passing of the Philippines’ Superstar - a multi-hyphenate performer across film, television, radio, theater - was announced by her family. With a career that spans seven decades, 180 films, 260 singles, multiple genres, and hundreds of awards, Nora Aunor’s impact as an artist transcends the boundaries of Philippine cinema. Her longevity is not only astounding in quantity - she starred in 18 films in 1970 alone! - but she has been a central figure in some of the best works Philippine cinema has ever created.

Personally, Aunor is my favorite Filipino actor - male or female - of all-time. Her talent puts her up there with the world’s best like Meryl Streep, Isabelle Huppert, Liv Ullmann, Gong Li, Viola Davis, Sophia Loren, Setsuko Hara, and Fernanda Montenegro. If this is the first time you are reading about this thespian,...

Oscar-winner Walter Salles, fresh from scoring the best international feature statuette for “I’m Still Here,” discussed the impact of his political drama on youth audiences in Brazil and underlined the importance of cinema as “an extraordinary tool of resistance” while attending the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra workshop in Qatar.

“I’m Still Here,” the story of Brazilian activist Rubens Paiva’s 1970 disappearance at the hands of the Brazilian military dictatorship and his wife Eunice Paiva’s subsequent search for justice, recently marked a historic first Oscar win for Brazil. Salles also pointed out that the film has now been “embraced by young generations of Brazilians” for whom it provided “access to a part of their history that had somehow been hidden.”

”The film has become their film,” Salles added, noting that Brazilian youths “took possession” of “I’m Still Here” and then “went to social media to narrate their own stories...

Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles broke out over two decades ago with his internationally acclaimed film Central Station. Since its release, it has remained one of the highest-grossing Brazilian films in domestic box office history, settling at the number two spot behind City of God. Central Station's record has now been broken by the Oscar-winning hit I'm Still Here. But what makes the story all the more interesting is the fact that I'm Still Here stars Fernanda Torres, whose mother, Fernanda Montenegro, headlined Central Station all those years ago. Montenegro also appears in I'm Still Here, which became the first Brazilian film in history to score a Best Picture nod at the Oscars.

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

All We Imagine as Light (Payal Kapadia)

Following up her enigmatic, beautiful debut A Night of Knowing Nothing, Payal Kapadia shows an entirely different register with her dazzling Cannes Film Festival Grand Prize winner All We Imagine as Light. Luke Hicks said in his review, “Writer-director Payal Kapadia isn’t interested in the flashy world of Mumbai that gets so much global attention. Per its opening soundscape, All We Imagine as Light means to bask in the luminescence of life found among India’s lower classes, which means acknowledging the inequality and socio-economic injustice that defines their everyday as much as it means showcasing their intrinsic glow and dogged refusal to let the inalienable love, beauty, and camaraderie of existence be taken from them.

Fernanda Torres was just celebrated for her Oscar-nominated performance in the movie I’m Still Here and now she’s supporting her mom Fernanda Montenegro‘s new movie!

Torres attended the premiere of her 95-year-old mother’s new movie Vitoria on Wednesday (March 12) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Based on a true story, the movie tells the story of an 80-year-old woman who single-handedly dismantled a drug trafficking scheme in Copacabana, all through images taken from the window of her apartment in Rio.

At the premiere, Torres posed for photos with a poster that featured her mom!

Make sure to look back at photos of Torres at the Oscars and see what she said after losing the award to Mikey Madison.

Browse through the gallery for photos of Fernanda Torres at her mom’s movie premiere…...

Carnival celebrations were raging across Rio on Sunday night when everyone stopped.

The Oscar for best international feature was about to be announced from Hollywood, and all eyes were fixed on whether the country or anyone associated with it could win its first Oscar. I’m Still Here, Walter Salles’ drama set during Brazil’s two-decade military dictatorship that ended in 1985, was nominated for the international prize as well as two others.

The festivities had already been shot through with Academy Awards. People danced around elétricos, music-blaring floats, joyous over the movie’s recognition 6,000 miles north. Some creative types had even taken the Boneco de Olinda, a giant traditional puppet often seen during Carnival, and tricked it out to depict star Fernanda Torres holding an awards statue. This was possibly the biggest, and certainly the coolest, Oscar watch party ever convened.

And so when Penélope Cruz read the name I...

Bollywood Mascot: Brazilian cinema had a historic moment at the 97th Academy Awards as I’m Still Here, directed by Walter Salles, won the prestigious Best International Feature Film award. The win marks a milestone for Brazil, as it secures its first Oscar in this category, solidifying its presence on the global cinematic stage.

The film tells a deeply emotional and historically significant story, centering around Eunice Paiva’s relentless pursuit of truth and justice for her husband, Rubens Paiva, a former leftist congressman who disappeared under Brazil’s military dictatorship in 1971. With a compelling screenplay and gripping performances by Fernanda Torres and Fernanda Montenegro, I’m Still Here captures the resilience of a woman who refused to be silenced.

Director Walter Salles, known for his previous critically acclaimed films, dedicated the award to Eunice Paiva’s unwavering courage and to the entire cast and crew who brought this powerful narrative to life.

Ever since Walter Salles’ Brazilian political drama I’m Still Here debuted to acclaim at last September’s Venice Film Festival, Brazilian star Fernanda Torres has been cutting a historic path through Hollywood’s awards season. That continued Sunday night at the 2025 Oscars, where the 59-year-old South America screen diva was nominated for best actress for her powerful performance as grieving mother of five whose politician husband has disappeared amid the darkest days of 1970s Brazil’s military dictatorship.

Torres didn’t take home the Oscar for best actress, though I’m Still Here significantly won the best international feature film category. On the carpet before the ceremony, she dazzled in an embellished Chanel dress, cementing her star quality on the big night.

Going into the ceremony, Torres was considered a longshot against best actress category frontrunner Demi Moore for The Substance which later went to Mikey Madison for Anora. But in...

Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here scooped the Best International Feature Film Oscar this evening, marking the first time that an entry from Brazil has won in the category.

Salles, who has repped Brazil four times now and was nominated for 1998’s Central Station, was greeted with a standing ovation amid loud cheers from the audience as he made his way to the Dolby stage.

Once there, Salles first offered his thanks “in the name of Brazilian cinema.” Then speaking of the film’s subject, Eunice Paiva, Salles added, “This goes to a woman who, after a loss suffered during an authoritarian regime, decided not to bend, and to resist… And, it goes to the two extraordinary women who gave life to her, Fernanda Torres and Fernanda Montenegro.”

Torres, who was a Best Actress nominee this evening, plays Paiva throughout most of the film, while her real-life mother Montenegro plays Paiva as an older woman.

It was a night of firsts at the 2025 Oscars, with some winners making history and various records being set.

After emceeing the Emmys twice, Conan O'Brien served as the Oscars host for the first time, and he noted several of the historic moments while on the big stage.

By winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Emilia Pérez, Zoe Saldaña became the first American of Dominican descent to prevail. "I am floored by this honor," she stated at the podium. "My grandmother came to this country in 1961. I am a proud child of immigrant parents, with dreams and dignity and hard-working hands. I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award, and I know I will not be the last. I hope!" Saldaña was the frontrunner all season long, having already dominated all of the precursor awards on her road to the Oscars.

Costume designer Paul Tazewell...

Brazil has won its first Oscar for international feature for I’m Still Here, the story of a family broken apart amid a dictatorship. Notably, the feature edged out France’s Emilia Pérez, which took home multiple Oscars earlier in the evening.

Director Walter Salles credited the woman who inspired the film — Eunice Paiva — and the women who brought her to life, daughter-mother pair Fernanda Torres and Fernanda Montenegro.

“This goes for a woman who, after a loss suffered during an authoritarian regime, decided not to bend — and to resist. So this prize goes to her. Her name is Eunice Paiva,” Salles said to massive applause, including from star Torres.

I’m Still Here, also nominated for best picture, tells the real-life story of a mother of five children who reinvents herself as a lawyer and activist after the devastating disappearance of her political dissident husband at the height of Brazil’s military dictatorship.

Brazil's I'm Still Here captured Best International Feature at the 2025 Oscars on Sunday, becoming the country's first winner in this category after four previous nominations.

I'm Still Here, which led the Gold Derby odds, defeated Emilia Pérez (France), Flow (Latvia), The Girl with the Needle (Denmark), and The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Germany).

Directed by Walter Salles, I'm Still Here stars Fernanda Torres as a mother forced to reinvent herself when her family's life is shattered by an act of arbitrary violence during the tightening grip of a military dictatorship in Brazil, 1971. The film was also nominated for Best Picture and Best Actress (Torres). This was the second Salles film nominated in this category after Central Station (1998), which lost to Life Is Beautiful (Italy). Other previous nominees from Brazil were Four Days in September (1997), O Quatrilho (1995), and Keeper of Promises (The Given Word) (1962).

"Thank you in the name of Brazilian cinema,...

“I’m Still Here,” Walter Salles’ searing drama about the life of Brazilian lawyer and activist Eunice Paiva, has triumphed at the 97th annual Academy Awards to win Best International Feature Film. Salles, along with the producers of his film, took the stage at the ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood to receive the prize, as presented by Penelope Cruz.

A previous nominee for his film “Central Station” in 1998, Salles gave a short and concise speech during the ceremony, focusing on shedding light on the real history that the film spotlights and its anti-authoritarian themes. In addition, he thanked his leading lady Fernanda Torres as well as her mother Fernanda Montenegro, both of whom appear in the film playing the main character, Brazllian lawyer and activist Eunice Paiva, at different stages of her life.

“I’m so honored to receive this, and in such an extraordinary group of filmmakers,” Salles said in his acceptance speech.

Walter Salles’ deeply moving drama “I’m Still Here” has won the Academy Award for best international feature, marking a historic first for Brazil.

The film, which tells the real-life story of Eunice Paiva’s decades-long search for justice after her husband’s disappearance during Brazil’s military dictatorship, has been gaining momentum in recent weeks. Its surprise nomination for best picture — alongside expected nods for international feature and best actress for star Fernanda Torres — solidified its status as a major contender.

The film beat out France’s “Emilia Perez,” Germany’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” Denmark’s “The Girl With the Needle” and Latvia’s “Flow.”

“I’m so honored to receive this, and in such an extraordinary group of filmmakers,” Salles said during his acceptance speech. “This goes to a woman who, after a loss suffered during an authoritarian regime, decided not to bend. And to resist.

The Academy Awards presented its coveted Oscar statuettes for achievements in film at the 96th Academy Awards from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood, Los Angeles, on Sunday, March 10th.

The red carpet at Hollywood’s Big Night was graced by Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Yeoh, Colman Domingo, Margaret Qualley, Monica Barbaro, Halle Berry, Zoe Saldaña, Jeremy Strong, Meg Ryan, Selena Gomez, Emma Stone, Blackpink’s Lisa, Brady Corbet, Boyd Holbrook, Denis Villeneuve, Bowen Yang, Jacki Weaver, Joan Chen, Laura Dern, and Isabella Rossellini, and more.

Related: The 2025 Oscars Parties & Events Photos: MPTF Night Before, Charles Finch and Chanel, Giorgio Armani Party & More

Hosted by Conan O’Brien, presenters included Halle Berry, Sterling K. Brown, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Ana de Armas, Robert Downey Jr., Elle Fanning, Whoopi Goldberg, Selena Gomez, Goldie Hawn, Scarlett Johansson, John Lithgow, Cillian Murphy, Connie Nielsen, Amy Poehler, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, June Squibb, Ben Stiller,...

Everything old is new again, or, as The Who sang in the ironically titled "Won't Get Fooled Again" — "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss." In this awful world, the counterculture becomes corporate culture, and the revolution becomes authoritarian rule. The state is overthrown by the opposition party, who then become the thing they hated — the revolutionary Ortega overthrew the dictatorial Somoza, only to become a dictator himself; Choibalsan took over from Amar and sent him to death before becoming infinitely worse; Rákosi and his 'salami tactics' supplanted Tildy, only to become... well, you get it.

The political register of existence is a ceaseless nightmare, and so we must group together to survive — help your family and friends, because the powers-that-be won't. The title of I'm Still Here reflects that kind of resiliency and the cyclical nature of state-sponsored suffering. I'm Still Here is a Brazilian film from...

The 97th Academy Awards will air on March 2, with the ceremony set to begin at 4:00 Pm Pt/7:00 Pm Et on ABC and Hulu. The night holds the potential for records to be set, surprises in major categories, and international recognition for films that have gained momentum throughout the season.

Best Picture Contenders

Anora could become the third film in history to win both the Palme d’Or at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best Picture, a feat previously achieved by Parasite and Marty. Emilia Perez, which has earned 13 nominations, enters the night among a select group of films that have reached that number.

Of the previous 12 films with 13 nominations, only three failed to win Best Picture. If Conclave wins, it will be one of the few films to take the top prize without its director receiving a nomination, a distinction shared by Wings, Grand Hotel, Driving Miss Daisy,...

Without a doubt, this year's Best Actress race is a nail-biter. With frontrunners Demi Moore (The Substance) and Mikey Madison (Anora) having split the major precursor awards, prognosticators are divided between who will take home the top prize. Which leaves room for dark horse contender Fernanda Torres (I'm Still Here) to potentially pull off an upset.

Here are five reasons why the Brazilian actress could surprise everyone and take home the Oscar for Best Actress this Sunday.

See Video Interview: Fernanda Torres

1. She seized her momentum at a key time with the Golden Globe win

Torres solidified her status as a serious Oscar contender back in January when she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Drama Actress. The winner of (either) Best Actress awards at the Globes has gone on to win the Oscar for Best Actress four times in the last six years. While there's no substantive overlap...

This year's crop of Oscars contenders is the most alphabet-friendly of all time. Not only are Anora, The Brutalist, and Conclave leading the charge as the trio of Best Picture frontrunners, but some of the other contenders vying for that top prize include Dune: Part Two, Emilia Pérez, and Fernanda Torres' I'm Still Here. Gold Derby has been handicapping the Academy Awards races all season long, and it's finally airing this Sunday on ABC and streaming on Hulu.

Who's nominated and who was snubbed? Who's hosting and who's presenting? And is Zoe Saldaña really going to win? Here are the ABCs of the 2025 Oscars:

A is for Anora

Sean Baker's risqué independent film, about a Brooklyn sex worker (Mikey Madison) whose life is upended when she meets the son of a Russian oligarch, claimed three key precursors in recent weeks at the Producers Guild, Directors Guild, and Writers Guild.

Originally published Feb. 6, 2025, at 11:30 a.m. Pt; updated Feb. 24, 2025, at 4:10 p.m. Pt

The Oscars race for Best Actress was wholly reset at the Golden Globes when self-described "popcorn actress" Demi Moore (The Substance) prevailed and delivered a speech that was award-worthy in its own right. Suddenly, there was a new Oscar frontrunner. But then Mikey Madison (Anora) fought back at BAFTA, beating the odds to claim a come-from-behind victory. Let's break down this year's Best Actress category, which also includes their fellow nominees Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez), and Fernanda Torres (I'm Still Here).

Frontrunner: Demi Moore

Moore's shocking victory at the Globes helped catapult her to the top of Gold Derby's Oscar odds for the first time, surpassing Madison, who had been the favorite to win since September. Not only was Moore's Golden Globe speech powerful in the moment, it also spoke more...

Fernanda Torres, the very down-to-earth diva of the Brazilian screen, emerges on the terrace of a midcentury modern mansion in Beverly Hills. It’s a crisp and sunny Saturday morning in February. Wrapped in a black overcoat, Torres gazes at an awe-inspiring view of Los Angeles.

She is fresh off a sojourn in Lisbon. Her last memories of the city are from January, when she surprised oddsmakers and herself by winning the Golden Globe for her work in I’m Still Here, a first for a Brazilian actress.

Miu Miu Coat.

“It was so beautiful when I was walking to the stage,” recalls Torres, 59, of beating some of the most famous women on the planet. “Kate Winslet was applauding me and smiling. I don’t know her, so I found that very moving. Tilda Swinton, Nicole Kidman — they were smiling, too.

“Then L.A. was on fire,” she says.

Her Hollywood...

For decades, Fernanda Torres has been a household name in Brazil, captivating audiences with her depth and versatility as an actress. But with her acclaimed performance in the drama “I’m Still Here,” Torres has found herself on a global stage, earning her first Academy Award nomination and carrying the pride of an entire nation.

Torres’ portrayal of Eunice Paiva, a mother who spent decades searching for justice after the disappearance of her husband during Brazil’s military dictatorship, has resonated with audiences and critics alike. The film’s surprise best picture nomination further solidified it as a landmark moment for Brazilian cinema.

On this episode of the Variety Awards Circuit Podcast, Torres reflects on the film’s emotional impact, the overwhelming support from Brazil, her mother Fernanda Montenegro’s Oscar history, and her unexpected Hollywood dreams — including a very specific James Bond villain role.

For Torres, seeing “I’m Still Here...

The 2024 ‘Oscar’-nominated live-action political drama feature “I'm Still Here”, directed by Walter Salles (“On The Road”), based on the biographical book by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, stars Fernanda Torres, Selton Mello, and Fernanda Montenegro, now playing in theaters:

“…in 1917 Rio de Janeiro, a Brazilian family sees their father taken away by the dictatorship government, never to be seen again.

“Now the lives of ‘Eunice Paiva’ and her five children abruptly change after the disappearance of her husband…

“…former ‘Brazilian Labour Party’ congressman ‘Rubens Paiva’…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

For the second year in a row, two non-English-language films have been nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, making the race for Best International Feature even more competitive. For most of this awards season, France’s Emilia Pérez was the runaway favorite to take the prize — and the musical cemented its frontrunner status when it racked up a total of 13 Oscar nominations — more than any other film. However, Best Actress nominee Karla Sofia Gascón‘s controversial social media posts have upended the Netflix film’s campaign, making way for a new leader in our Gold Derby odds: Brazil’s I’m Still Here. But could Latvia’s Flow, Denmark’s The Girl with the Needle, or Germany’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig be in position to stage their own upset on March 2? Here’s our analysis of the Oscars Best International Feature race.

Frontrunner: I’m Still Here

Brazil...

Sony Pictures Classics has announced additional international release dates for Brazilian Oscar nominee I’m Still Here as the film prepares to roll out in Latin American and Europe.

Walter Salles’ drama starring Oscar-nominated Fernanda Torres will open in Mexico, Chile, Venezuela, and Bolivia on February 6; Colombia on February 13; Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Dominican Republic, and Ecuador on February 20; Romania on February 21; Slovakia on February 27; and Poland and Turkey on February 28.

I’m Still Here has grossed more than $1m in North America and is scheduled to expand on Friday. The story centres on Eunice Paiva, a matriarch in the early 1970s...

Twelve years after co-directing Berlinale entry “The Man of the Crowd,” renowned director Marcelo Gomes is once again joining forces with filmmaker and visual artist Cao Guimarães (“From the Window of My Room”) for a new film, titled “Cape of Pleasures.” The dystopian thriller is one of the projects selected at this year’s CineMart, the co-production market of the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Speaking exclusively with Variety ahead of the festival, Gomes says the idea for the film came out of reflecting alongside Guimarães on what currently afflicted them. “With ‘The Man of the Crowd,’ we made a film about our affliction about loneliness in big cities. ‘Cape of Pleasures’ came out of our fear of aging in a country with a latent desire for eternal youth. Being old is almost a crime in Brazil.”

“Cape of Pleasures” takes place in a near future in Brazil where a totalitarian...

Nominations voting is from January 8-17, 2025, with official Oscar nominations announced January 23, 2025. Final voting is February 11-18, 2025. And finally, the 97th Oscars telecast will be broadcast on Sunday, March 2 and air live on ABC at 7:00 p.m. Et/ 4:00 p.m. Pt. We update our picks through awards season, so keep checking IndieWire for all our 2025 Oscar predictions.

The State of the Race

Whatever relief was felt from an up-in-the-air Best Actress race finally landing on five names has been lost due to the messiness around online Oscar campaigning, and what has been dredged up about some of the nominees.

Specifically “Emilia Pérez” star Karla Sofía Gascón, who seems to have an endless trove of offensive tweets that she has only somewhat apologized for. As cynical one can be about Academy member’s getting defensive about their relationship to films that receive backlash, it is fair to say that...

Karla Sofía Gascón, star of the Oscar-nominated film “Emilia Pérez,” has accused the social media team of fellow best actress nominee Fernanda Torres of attempting to undermine her work.

In a Jan. 21 video interview with Folha de S. Paulo, a Brazilian daily newspaper, published Tuesday, Gascón praised Torres, the star of the Brazilian drama “I’m Still Here.” Torres is also competing for best actress at the upcoming Academy Awards, while “I’m Still Here” also landed nods in the best picture and best international feature categories.

In the edited clip, Gascón, speaking in Spanish, criticizes online campaigns, stating, “What I don’t like are social media teams — people who work with these people — trying to diminish our work, like me and my movie, because that doesn’t lead anywhere. You don’t need to tear down someone’s work to highlight another’s. I have never, at any point, said anything...

Best Actress Oscar nominee Fernanda Torres has apologized for appearing in blackface as part of a comedy sketch on Brazilian television in 2008.

“Almost 20 years ago, I appeared in blackface in a comedy sketch from a Brazilian TV show,” Torres said in a statement. “I am very sorry for this. I’m making this statement as it is important for me to address this swiftly to avoid further pain and confusion.”

She continued, “At that time, despite the efforts of Black movements and organizations, the awareness of the racist history and symbolism of blackface hadn’t yet entered the mainstream public consciousness in Brazil. Thanks to better cultural understanding and important but incomplete achievements in this century, it’s very clear now in our country and everywhere that blackface is never acceptable.”

Torres concluded her statement by saying she hoped the conversation about blackface and racial blindspots sparked further evolution within society.

Exclusive: After scoring a Best Actress Oscar nomination after winning the Golden Globe for Best Performance By An Actress in a Film Drama for her portrayal of a mother searching for her disappeared politician husband in I’m Still Here, Fernanda Torres tonight is making an apology for a decades-old skit on the Brazilian TV show Fantastico that is beginning to resurface. She played multiple characters in the skit, one of them in blackface.

“Almost twenty years ago, I appeared in blackface in a comedy sketch from a Brazilian TV show,” Torres said in a statement. “I am very sorry for this. I’m making this statement as it is important for me to address this swiftly to avoid further pain and confusion.

“At that time, despite the efforts of Black movements and organizations, the awareness of the racist history and symbolism of blackface hadn’t yet entered the mainstream public consciousness in Brazil.

The 2025 Oscar nominations were announced on Thursday to the usual surprised and offended audience.

The announcement was delayed by a few days due to the wildfires spreading across Los Angeles, but Rachel Sennott and Bowen Yang shared the news live on Jan. 23 from the Film Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The award show is slated to take place as planned, airing on March 2.

Emilia Pérez beat out the other features with 13 nominations; it was closely followed by Wicked and The Brutalist, which each have ten.

Following a Mexican drug lord transitioning gender, Emilia Pérez‘s 13 nominations set a new record for a non-English-language film. Star of the film Karla Sofía Gascón was also submitted for best actress, making her the first openly transgender actress to be nominated.

Following Emilia Pérez, Wicked and The Brutalist are Conclave and A Complete Unknown, which were each mentioned eight times. These films will compete...

When the 2025 Oscar nominations were announced on Thursday, awards-watchers expected to see the titles “Emilia Pérez,” “Conclave” and “Wicked” in the lineup. But the gripping, humane Brazilian drama “I’m Still Here” was a surprise inclusion on the Best Picture list.

Pundits had expected the film to show up in the Best International Feature and potentially Best Actress (Fernanda Torres) categories, both of which it did, but the Academy members – 9,905 voters at last count – also supported the film across all branches to score a coveted Best Picture nomination.

“The Academy members have always gravitated to high quality work,” Michael Barker, co-president of the film’s distributor Sony Pictures Classics, told TheWrap. “Obviously, we knew that this film was high-quality and we knew that if we got enough Academy members to see it, we were going to have a shot.”

He added, “That strategy started a long time ago, and (fellow co-president...

From the moment that Fernanda Torres was named a Best Actress Oscar nominee for I’m Still Here, the Gold Derby forum posters started smashing the caps lock. “Omg Fernandaaaaaaaaaaaaa,” said patobrat. “Fernanda Might Be Winning,” predicted Victor. “Help I’M Passing Out! I’M Seizing For Fernanda!” shouted soltseven. And that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Torres made history on Thursday by becoming the second Brazilian to receive a Best Actress nomination, following in the footsteps of her mother, Fernanda Montenegro, who was the first to do so for Central Station (1998). Walter Salles directed both films, and Montenegro appeared in both. I’m Still Here also received Oscar bids for Best Picture and Best International Feature Film.

Torres plays Eunice Paiva, a mother and activist who copes with the forced disappearance of her husband, the dissident politician Rubens Paiva, during Brazil’s military dictatorship. Her co-nominees for the Best...

How do the 2025 Oscars Best Picture nominees stack up on Rotten Tomatoes? And does the film with the highest freshness rating have a better shot at winning the big prize?

While critics’ scores don’t determine the Best Picture lineup (there are thousands of highly rated movies each year), once the lineup is selected by the Motion Picture Academy, there are at least a few tea leaves worth reading. For instance, the only film to win Best Picture in the last 10 years with a freshness rating lower than 90 percent is Green Book, which has a Tomatometer score of just 77 percent.

Last year’s winner, Oppenheimer, holds a formidable 93 percent, but it didn’t rank first among it’s competitors. That distinction went to The Holdovers, which has a rating of 97 percent. So, a movie doesn’t have to have the highest score to win Best Picture, but it certainly helps its chances.

With 13 nominations, including Best Picture, Best International Feature, Best Actress for Karla Sofia Gascón, and Best Supporting Actress for Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez broke the record for most Oscar nominations for a film not in the English language by three. As Best Actress nominees, Gascón and I’m Still Here star Fernanda Torres are the first pair of non-English performances nominated together in the category since 1966. As a Best Picture nominee, I’m Still Here is the first Brazilian film ever nominated in the category while Torres is only the second Brazilian actress nominated for Best Actress after her mother, Fernanda Montenegro. Thanks to Emilia Pérez and I’m Still Here, this is the seventh consecutive year when a non-English language film has received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, with Parasite remaining as the only winner thus far.

Those were some of the main headlines on Thursday morning after the 2025 Oscar nominations announcement.

The 2025 Oscar nominations have been revealed, and there are 13 first-time acting nominees, including Ariana Grande, Kieran Culkin, Demi Moore, Zoe Saldaña, Sebastian Stan and Karla Sofía Gascón.

Emilia Pérez‘s Saldaña landed a nod for best supporting actress for her portrayal of Rita Mora Castro, and Gascón received a nom for best actress for her title role in Emilia Pérez. Gascón is not only a first-time Oscar nominee but also the first openly transgender acting nominee. The Jacques Audiard-led film led the Oscar nominations with a total of 13 nods.

Stan scored his first Oscar nom for best actor for his portrayal of President Donald Trump for The Apprentice, as well as his co-star Jeremy Strong for best supporting actor for his role of Roy Cohn.

Fresh off her first Golden Globe win, Demi Moore is nominated for best actress in a leading role for her role of Elisabeth Sparkle...

The 2025 Oscar nominations were unveiled today (January 23), with Emilia Perez leading the way with 13 nods, followed by The Brutalist and Wicked on 10 each.

Screenpicks out five talking points from this year’s nominations. The Oscar ceremony will take place on March 2.

Strong showings and shut-outs

No film has had a stronger showing thanEmilia Perez,France’s entry for best international feature and nominated in all the major categories for which it is eligible. Directed by French auteur Jacques Audiard and shot mostly in Spanish and mostly in France, standing in for Mexico, it is also an old-fashioned musical.Despite the...

Fernanda Torres and Karla Sofía Gascón made history on Thursday as the first pair of Best Actress Oscar nominees for non-English language performances in nearly 50 years. Torres stars in Sony Pictures Classics’ I’m Still Here from Brazil, while Gascón leads in Netflix’s Emilia Pérez from France. This marks the fourth time two actors have been nominated for non-English roles for different movies in the same year. They will compete against Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Mikey Madison (Anora), and Demi Moore (The Substance). Both films are cited for Best International Feature and Best Picture while Emilia Pérez became the most-nominated international movie with 13 mentions.

In the Walter Salles‘ political biopic, Torres portrays Portuguese-speaking human rights activist Eunice Paiva, who searches for her missing husband, politician Rubens Paiva, during the Brazilian Military Dictatorship in 1971. Torres’ only precursor recognition was at the Golden Globes, where she surprised in Best Drama Actress. Despite missing at the Critics Choice,...

Emilia Pérez leads the 2025 Oscar nominations, which were revealed Thursday morning.

The film scored 13 noms, setting a record for a non-English-language film. That surpasses the previous record holders, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Roma, which each earned 10.

Following Emilia Pérez were The Brutalist and Wicked, which tied with 10 noms apiece. A Complete Unknown and Conclave followed with eight mentions each.

All five of those films will compete for best picture with Anora, Dune: Part Two, I’m Still Here, Nickel Boys and The Substance. Coralie Fargeat, who directed the latter film, was the only female to be nominated in the best directing category, and also scored a writing nom, while star Demi Moore landed the first Oscar nom of her career, as did Isabella Rossellini for Conclave.

Karla Sofía Gascón, the Spanish-born star of Emilia Pérez, was nominated for best actress, making her the first openly transgender performer to be so honored.

The 97th annual Oscar nominations were revealed Thursday morning in Los Angeles. And the newest lineup featured a number of historic milestones. Among them this year:

Best Picture With 13 nominations, “Emilia Perez” is the most nominated non-English-language film of all time, beating the record of 10 nominations held by “Roma” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” “Emilia Pérez” and “I’m Still Here” are also the 18th and 19th films predominantly not in the English language to be nominated for Best Picture. Both are nominated for Best International Feature – the first time ever that two nominees from that category have also been nominated for Best Picture. At 3:35, “The Brutalist” is the sixth-longest Best Picture nominee, a few minutes longer than two recent Martin Scorsese movies, “The Irishman” (3:29) and “Killers of the Flower Moon” (3:26). “Cleopatra,” from 1963, is the all-time longest Best Picture nominee at 4:11. Acting categories Seven acting nominees are...

Fernanda Torres landed a Best Actress nomination this morning from the American Academy for her leading turn in Walter Salles’ latest I’m Still Here.

Torres is only the second Brazilian actress to receive an Oscar nomination. The first was her mother, Fernanda Montenegro, who was nominated in 1999 for Central Station, also directed by Salles.

I’m Still Here was co-written by Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega and is based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s memoir of the same name set during Brazil’s military dictatorship in the early 1970s. The central figure is Paiva’s mom Eunice, a mother of five who is forced to reinvent herself and her family after her husband Rubens, a politician and engineer who opposed the regime, became one of the government’s desaparecidos (the disappeared), and was tortured and killed.

Sony Pictures Classics, which also released Central Station, acquired I’m Still Here out of the...

Fernanda Torres’ mom must be so proud.

On Thursday, the star of Walter Salles’ period drama I’m Still Here, repeated her mother Fernanda Montenegro’s historic achievement from 1999 (for Central Station) becoming only the second Brazilian to be nominated by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in the best actress category. (Ms. Montenegro lost out to Gwyneth Paltrow for Shakespeare in Love.)

Torres is up against Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón, Wicked‘s Cynthia Erivo, Mikey Madison for Anora, and Demi Moore for The Substance in the category. Earlier this month, the 59-year-old was the surprise winner of the best actress Golden Globe in the drama category, beating out boldface names including Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Tilda Swinton, Pamela Anderson, and Kate Winslet.

She’s an underdog in the Oscar race as well, but her performance in I’m Still Here — as Eunice Paiva, the wife turned activist...

Fernanda Torres made history on Thursday morning as only the second Brazilian to receive a Best Actress nomination at the Oscars. The I’m Still Here star follows in the footsteps of her mother, Fernanda Montenegro, who was the first to do it in 1999 for Central Station. Walter Salles directed both films.

In I’m Still Here, Torres plays Eunice Paiva, a mother and activist who copes with the forced disappearance of her husband, the dissident politician Rubens Paiva, during Brazil’s military dictatorship. Adapted from Marcelo Rubens Paiva‘s memoir, I’m Still Here earned an additional Oscar bid for Best International Feature.

In January, Torres stunned pundits by winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Drama Actress, solidifying her status as a serious contender for the Oscars. Montenegro’s portrayal of the older version of Torres’ character in the film adds a sentimental layer to this achievement.

“To have this fairytale...

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree — especially at the Oscars.

I’m Still Here‘s Fernanda Torres and Conclave‘s Isabella Rossellini joined their mothers, Fernanda Montenegro and Ingrid Bergman, respectively, as Oscar nominees on Thursday, becoming the fifth and sixth pairs of mother-daughter duos to be nominated for acting Oscars.

Torres, who cracked the top five in the Best Actress odds after her Golden Globe victory, is up for the award alongside Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez), Mikey Madison (Anora), and Demi Moore (The Substance). The nomination comes 26 years after Montenegro was shortlisted in the same category for Central Station and lost to Shakespeare in Love‘s Gwyneth Paltrow.

Rossellini, 72, received her long-awaited maiden Oscar bid in Best Supporting Actress, where she was third in the odds, in Edward Berger‘s papal thriller. She faces Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown), Ariana Grande (Wicked...

After a four-decade career in films, Isabella Rossellini scored her first Oscar nomination on Thursday for her supporting role as a Vatican nun in “Conclave.”

The nomination places Rossellini in the Academy history books. She is the daughter of three-time Oscar-winning actress Ingrid Bergman. Her father, the Italian neorealist filmmaking legend Roberto Rossellini was also nominated once, in 1950 for his screenplay for “Paisan.”

Swedish acting legend Bergman is often cited as one of the greatest screen icons of all time, famed for her roles in “Casablanca,” “The Bells of St. Marys” and Alfred Hitchcock’s “Notorious.” She was a seven-time nominee who won three Oscars: two for Best Actress (“Gaslight” and “Anastasia”) and one for Best Supporting Actress (“Murder on the Orient Express”).

Rossellini’s nomination this year, in fact, comes on the 50th anniversary of her mother’s win for “Orient Express,” an all-star mystery film in which Bergman...

With the 2025 Oscar nominations days away, no other category is more difficult to predict than Best Actress. This race has been consistently fluid as new contenders pick up steam, and the expected lineup today looks vastly different from July, when Gold Derby opened our Oscars predictions. So who are the current locks, on-the-bubble contenders, and long shots to hear their names called on Thursday? Read on for our Best Actress Oscar nomination breakdown.

Locks

Mikey Madison (Anora) — 37/10 odds

For playing the titular Brooklyn sex worker who marries into the wrong family, this 25-year-old has led the Best Actress race since early September. That’s when she officially took the No. 1 spot from Amy Adams (Nightbitch), who has tumbled to 20th place in our rankings. Madison has accrued all of the relevant precursor nominations a frontrunner would expect to have, plus she prevailed with dozens of critics’ groups either as a lead or a breakthrough,...

Walter Salles-directed I’m Still Here caps weeks of packed screenings after a Best Actress Golden Globe win by star Fernanda Torres with a theatrical release from Sony Pictures Classics on five screens in New York and LA. The distributor’s The Room Next Door jumps from 44 screens to over 850, the widest release of a Pedro Almodovar film.

Mubi is out with documentary Grand Theft Hamlet, A24’s Colman Domingo-starring Sing Sing is back at 500+ theaters, Bleecker Street’s Hard Truths by Mike Leigh, starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste, expands to 120 screens.

Torres of I’m Still Here is the daughter of Brazilian icon Fernanda Montenegro who was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar for Salles’ breakout film Central Station. Earlier this month, Torres dedicated her Golden Globe to her mother, saying, “She was here 25 years ago and this is like proof that art can endure through life.” Her speech was a hit,...

This review was originally published on October 26, 2024 as a part of our Middleburg Film Festival coverage.

I’m Still Here, Walter Salles’ latest film, is all about the profoundness of feeling in an unstable, tumultuous time, and how it rocks the boat of a seemingly stable family. The Brazilian film is a family drama wrapped in a political story. It’s focused primarily on Eunice Paiva (Fernanda Torres) and her five children after her husband, Rubens (Selton Mello) — a former congressman who was ousted when the Brazilian Military Dictatorship took over — is disappeared in 1971. Written by Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega, I’m Still Here is an evocative, nuanced portrait of family and the lasting imprint of politics.

I'm Still Here is set during the early 1970s military dictatorship in Brazil, focusing on the Paiva family. As the regime intensifies, Rubens, Eunice, and their five children live in an open house by the beach in Rio.