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A mother is forced to reinvent herself when her family’s life is shattered by an act of arbitrary violence during the tightening grip of the military dictatorship in Brazil, 1971. Selected by the Brazilian Academy of Cinematography to compete for Best International Feature Film at the 2025 Academy Awards. Eunice Paiva: Martha, you have to help me. Martha: Everyone is in danger, Eunice… Featured on Mais Voce: Episode dated December 3, 2024 (2024). Feast of the Holy King Written by Leo Maia (as Marcus Leonardo) Performed by Tim Maia. "I’m Still Here" goes beyond being just another film about a military dictatorship, offering a human, intense and brutally intimate portrait of a family falling apart under overwhelming, uncontrolled forces. With his raw style and unparalleled sensitivity, Walter Salles returns to the theme of a country plunged into repression, but instead of focusing on major political events, he focuses on their consequences within homes and personal lives. By focusing the story on family drama, Salles subverts the expectations of traditional historical film, eschewing documentary tones or broad, structural focus. Here, Brazil in the 1970s is felt through the struggles of the Paiva family, and in the painful detail of their shared wounds, Salles depicts the scars left by a dictatorship that, although distorted in collective memory, remains vivid in the lives it destroyed. The focus of the narrative through the perspective of Eunice, played by the legendary Fernanda Torres and Fernanda Montenegro, gives the film an undeniable authenticity. While coping with the loss of her husband, Rubens Paiva (Selton Mello), a public figure and human rights defender, Eunice must hold her family together and maintain the emotional stability of her children. Eunice is the pure embodiment of resilience and motherly love, and her daily routine, her rituals with her children, and the moments she shares as a family are all part of a once ordinary life, now shattered by her sudden absence. Family dinners and memories of beach outings become painful when revisited after Rubens’ disappearance, as they reveal the empty space left by systemic violence. Salles skillfully uses this family intimacy to show how dictatorship destroys emotional bonds and disrupts the peace of every home, encouraging the audience to reflect on how history is also shaped by losses and quiet moments in everyday life. Fernanda Torres’ performance deserves every praise. She embodies a woman who refuses to let her grief immobilize her, balancing between protecting her children and the relentless search for answers about her husband’s whereabouts. This balance between strength and vulnerability gives Eunice a striking and essential presence in the film. In a moving and remarkably mature performance, Montenegro, as the older Eunice, amplifies the impact of Rubens’ absence, bringing a heavy, almost physical silence that resonates with those who never got the chance to say goodbye. The real-life relationship between Montenegro and Torres as mother and daughter adds authenticity to the transitions in time, making Eunice’s portrayal even more heartfelt and believable. This genuine continuity allows Salles’ film to transcend mere fiction and reach a depth that only a personal story can achieve. Technically, the film is a visual achievement that captures the intimate pain of this family through precisely crafted cinematography. The use of confined spaces and close-ups reveals the characters’ physical and psychological confinement, reflecting the oppression that hangs over their lives. The soundtrack accompanies the most emotional scenes with an almost mystical quality, blending with the characters’ feelings like a whisper that preserves the pain of the past. The rooms’ the use of music is interesting, not only to heighten the drama, but to evoke an almost palpable nostalgia in the air, an echo of absence that can never be overcome.