🤩 The Fernanda Torres phenomenon

Hello! Welcome to another edition of the Brazil Society newsletter! This week, we dive into the international success of actor Fernanda Torres for her role in “I'm Still Here” and the online campaign Brazilians are leading to secure her an Oscar nomination.

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Can Golden Globe-winning Fernanda Torres land Brazil’s first Oscar?

Fernanda Torres, who recently won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama for her role in Walter Salles’s “I’m Still Here,” has ignited a surge of national pride across Brazil — expressed fervently on social media. Brazilians are no strangers to online enthusiasm, and this has taken center stage in the cinematic world in the days leading up to this year’s Oscar nominations announcement.

The movie’s political themes (it revolves around a family whose patriarch was arrested and disappeared during the military dictatorship) have placed “I’m Still Here” in the middle of Brazil’s intense political polarization, resulting in relentless far-right criticism of the film.

Such opprobrium often targets the political leanings of cast members and the production team, or the alleged government funding for the movie — even if “I'm Still Here” was privately funded.

Torres’s triumph has brought a sense of vindication for fans of her work. Her mother, the legendary Fernanda Montenegro, was nominated for both an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her performance in the 1999 movie “Central Station,” also directed by Salles. Montenegro did not win either of the two awards, decisions that many in Brazil considered unfair.

Now, the country is rallying behind Torres with the fervor of a World Cup final, hoping that its social media engagement will help to secure her a place at the Academy Awards.

The numbers speak to this enthusiasm: a single video of Torres shared by the Golden Globes amassed an astounding 77 million views and 325,000 comments — figures that dwarfed similar videos with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars.

A film with global footprint and local impact

Despite her newfound international acclaim, Torres has remained humble. Winning a Golden Globe, she has said, was beyond her expectations, given the formidable competition and the challenges of promoting a Portuguese-language film.

Industry experts agree that securing an Oscar nomination will be an uphill battle, citing the significant differences in voting processes between the Academy and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. But Torres’s fans are undeterred. They have flooded social media in an all-out campaign to draw the Academy’s attention.

Their optimism is not without foundation. “I’m Still Here” has already earned accolades at major film festivals, including Venice, Vancouver, Miami, and Pessac. Set during Brazil’s military dictatorship (1964-1985), the film tells the real-life story of Rubens Paiva, a former congressman who disappeared after being arrested by the military in 1971.

Based on the book of the same name by Paiva’s son, Marcelo, the movie chronicles the anguish of the Paiva family, particularly matriarch Eunice Paiva (Torres), as she fought to uncover the truth about her husband’s fate.

In Brazil, “I'm Still Here” has been a commercial success, drawing 3 million viewers in its first three weeks, performing better than Hollywood blockbusters “Wicked” and “Gladiator 2.” After the Golden Globe win, the number of theaters screening the film doubled to 400.

The film’s success marks a significant moment for Brazilian cinema, which is still reeling from pandemic-era challenges and severe cultural budget cuts under former President Jair Bolsonaro.

A moment of reckoning

The film serves as an education on the country’s military dictatorship. In a nation that has never fully reckoned with the crimes of its authoritarian past, nostalgia for the regime has gained a troubling foothold in recent years. This culminated in the January 8, 2023, attacks on Brazil’s Congress, presidential offices and Supreme Court, when pro-Bolsonaro rioters called for a military coup. 

“I'm Still Here is not a film about the past,” Torres said while accepting an award from the Critics Choice Association. “It is a film, strangely and sadly, about our present — a reflection on the normalization of state violence under authoritarian regimes.”

Indeed, coinciding with the film’s success, Brazil’s National Justice Council, an oversight body for Brazilian courts, ordered the revision of death certificates for political prisoners who died at the hands of the regime, altering causes of death to reflect the state violence they suffered.

Meanwhile, Supreme Court Justice Flávio Dino argued in a landmark case that those guilty of concealment of a human corpse cannot benefit from the 1979 Amnesty Law, which forgave crimes committed by state agents during the 1964-1985 dictatorship. While describing the act as a “permanent crime” that cannot be absolved under the current laws, Dino cited “I’m Still Here” in his opinion. 

Fernanda Torres and a lifetime of achievement

Born in Rio de Janeiro to two acclaimed actors, Torres grew up in the theater and began her acting career in her teenage years. Her résumé spans film, television and stage, winning numerous accolades along the way. In 1986, she became the first Brazilian to win Best Actress at Cannes for her performance in “Love Me Forever or Never.”

Her comedic television roles in long-running series like “So Normal” and “Slaps & Kisses” remain beloved, while her books and screenwriting have earned her further acclaim. Her novel “The End” was published internationally and adapted into a miniseries.

Now, with a Golden Globe in hand and a global audience rallying behind her, Brazilians are hoping to script a new chapter for Torres at the Oscars.

Other stories we're following

🧑‍🦳 A 119-year-old Brazilian woman, Deolira Gliceria Pedro da Silva, is asking for the Guinness World Records to recognize her as the world’s oldest living person. As things stand, the oldest person alive is already Brazilian, 116-year-old nun Inah Canabarro Lucas. 

🧑‍🏫 The federal government announced the “More Teachers” program this week, aimed at “valuing and encouraging teaching throughout the country,” with a BRL 1.5 billion budget (about USD 250 million) for 2025/2026. 

🚨In the southern state of Santa Catarina, days of heavy rain have left more than 1,000 people homeless. Nine municipalities have declared a state of emergency.