It has been 12 years since Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles has had a narrative feature film released in the United States with his adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. By 2012, Salles had successfully turned his acclaim from the Oscar-nominated 1998 film, Central Station, into being an in-demand director. Although his 2004 film The Motorcycle Diaries won an Oscar for original song, his remake of the Japanese horror film, Dark Water, a year later was a critical and commercial flop.
After years making lower-key documentaries, Salles returns behind the camera for the Brazilian film, I’m Still Here, a period drama set in 1971 Rio de Janeiro with actress Fernando Torres playing Eunice Paiva, the wife of a Brazilian diplomat, who was taken away by a group of men in the midst of the country’s military dictatorship, only for her to spend the next few years trying to find out whether her husband is still alive or dead.
This is the first time that Salles has had a movie in the Oscar conversation in 20 years, and maybe there’s a sense of irony that Torres’ performance is getting a lot of attention, much like her mother, Fernanda Montenegro, who received an Oscar nomination in 1998 for her performance in Salles’ Central Station.
Cinema Daily US spoke with the 68-year-old Brazilian filmmaker a few weeks back, an interview you can watch above, where we spoke about his close connection to the Paiva family from when he was younger to his long-time fruitful relationship with Ms. Torres (and her mother), plus recreating 1970 Rio de Janeiro in modern times, and much more.
I’m Still Here has already received a one-week Oscar run here in the States as it has become Brazil’s biggest local hit of the year after a successful festival run. It will be released in New York and L.A. on January 17 before expanding nationwide on February 14. You can look for Cinema Daily US’ interviews with Fernanda Torres and her co-star Selton Mello sometime in January
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Director: Walter Salles
Screenwriter: Murilo Hauser, Heitor Lorega
Cast: Fernanda Torres, Selton Mello, Fernanda Montenegro, Valentina Herszage, Maria Manoella, Bárbara Luz, Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha, Luiza Kosovski, Marjorie Estiano, Guilherme Silveira, Antonio Saboia, Cora Mora, Olívia Torres
Producer: Maria Carlota Bruno, Martine de Clermont-Tonnerre, Rodrigo Teixeira
Production Co: VideoFilmes, RT Features, MACT Productions, Arte France Cinéma
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Rating: PG-13 (Thematic Content|Some Strong Language|Drug Use|Smoking|Brief Nudity)
Genre: Drama
Language: Portugese
Release Date (Theaters): January 17, 2025 (New York, LA)
Runtime: 2 hours, 16 minute
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You can watch the trailer below: