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The True Story Behind I’m Still Here—and Its 2025 Oscar Recognition

Walter Salles’s I’m Still Here adapts Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s book about his mother Eunice and the family’s life after Rubens disappeared in 1971. It won the 2025 Oscar for International Feature Film and was nominated for Best Picture.
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Yes. Walter Salles’s I’m Still Here (Ainda Estou Aqui) is based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s book about his mother, Eunice, and her family’s life after government officials took her husband, Rubens Paiva, from their Rio de Janeiro home in 1971. The film was nominated for Best Picture at the 2025 Academy Awards and won International Feature Film for Brazil; it did not win Best Picture.

What happened to Rubens Paiva?

Rubens Paiva was a former congressman and outspoken critic of Brazil’s military dictatorship. In 1971, government officials took him from his home in Rio de Janeiro under the pretext of a “deposition.” He disappeared, and his family never saw him return. Film at Lincoln Center’s 2024 New York Film Festival program describes Eunice’s search for answers as the story’s historical core. Film at Lincoln Center’s film program

The Associated Press reported on March 3, 2025, that the Paiva family waited 40 years to receive Rubens’s death certificate and that authorities later recognized that he died in the context of dictatorship-era violence. Those details describe the historical record reported by AP; they should not be taken as a scene-by-scene account of what the film depicts. Associated Press report

How the film tells Eunice’s story

The film focuses on Eunice Paiva and the family she had to care for after Rubens was taken. Sony Pictures Classics describes Eunice as a mother of five rebuilding her life after a violent, arbitrary act by the government. Its synopsis frames the story as part of Brazil’s hidden history. That is the distributor’s description; the documented disappearance and its aftermath are also summarized by Film at Lincoln Center and AP. Sony Pictures Classics’ film page

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The film is adapted from a book by the couple’s son, Marcelo Rubens Paiva. The Brazilian Cinema Academy described the source as autobiographical when it announced the film’s selection to represent Brazil in the Oscar international-feature process; Sony Pictures Classics calls it a biographical book. The book is Ainda Estou Aqui by Marcelo Rubens Paiva. The available official descriptions establish the adaptation, but not the extent of scene-by-scene fidelity between book and film. Brazilian Cinema Academy announcement

What did I’m Still Here win at the 2025 Oscars?

At the 97th Academy Awards, held March 2, 2025, I’m Still Here received a Best Picture nomination and won International Feature Film for Brazil. These are different outcomes: Anora won Best Picture. The Academy’s official record lists the film in both categories and identifies its international-feature win. Academy Awards: 2025 ceremony

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Brazil’s September 2024 announcement that the film would represent the country in the Oscar selection process was an earlier national-submission step, not the eventual Academy nomination or win. Keeping those stages distinct matters: a country’s selection, an Oscar nomination, and an award are not interchangeable.

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Why the story resonated beyond the awards

The film brings a family’s intimate loss into view alongside the history of state violence under Brazil’s dictatorship. Its central question is not only what happened to Rubens, but what his disappearance required of Eunice and their children as they tried to live without reliable answers. In his acceptance speech, director Walter Salles said, “This goes to a woman who after a loss suffered during an authoritarian regime decided not to bend and resist. This prize goes to her,” according to AP.

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What is established—and what is not

  • Established: The film is directed by Walter Salles, adapts Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s book about his mother, and centers on the family after officials took Rubens in 1971.
  • Established: The Academy nominated it for Best Picture and awarded it International Feature Film for Brazil in 2025.
  • Not established by the cited film and awards pages: A complete comparison of the movie’s dramatic choices with the memoir, or the precise content of every scene.
  • Not established here: Current streaming availability, which can vary by country and change over time.

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