Fernanda Torres proudly declares ‘I’m Still Here’ as a ‘film about Brazil, with things to say to the world’

“I’ve never worked with such a profound character,” reveals Fernanda Torres about starring in the critically acclaimed “I’m Still Here.” For our recent webchat the renowned Brazilian actress adds, “there are so many layers of doubt and anger and fear. This is a tragic story which is not a melodrama. It’s not something that you just rely on your self-pity. You have to be strong. Eunice is such a profound character with so many contradictions,” she says, noting that the film and Eunice’s story ultimately stand for “the importance of art, the resistance of art, the importance of freedom, and all of that Eunice teaches us to do, not by screaming, but with civility, humanity, and dignity.” Watch our video interview above.

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“I’m Still Here” is directed by Walter Salles (“Central Station,” “The Motorcycle Diaries”) from a screenplay by Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega, based on the 2015 memoir “Ainda Estou Aqui,” written by the film protagonists’ son Marcelo Rubens Paiva. The political biopic stars legendary mother-daughter duo Torres and Oscar nominee Fernanda Montenegro (“Central Station”) as the younger and older versions of Eunice Paiva, a local activist married to politician Rubens Paiva. After the congressman’s sudden disappearance in 1971, Eunice has been left alone to care for their five children while navigating the oppressive military dictatorship that looms over Brazil. Rather than be silenced in fear, Eunice becomes an activist fighting for justice against the oppressive regime, bringing hidden history to light. The film was a hit at the 81st Venice International Film Festival earlier this year, garnering enthusiastic raves for the acclaimed mother-daughter duo, with Hauser and Lorega winning Best Screenplay. “I’m Still Here” is the official Brazilian entry for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars this year.

The actress proudly recognizes the parallels between the acclaim that she has garnered for this film and her mother’s experience on Salles’ “Central Station” 26 years ago, as if the stars have aligned for another uniquely Brazilian story on the world stage. “The presence of my mother and me in this movie with Walter, is repeating a way, a film about Brazil, with things to say to the world,” Torres declares. “Brazil is very isolated. Once in a while we have things to say to the world, and Walter is a world director, is a Brazilian director, but he has this connection. To have this fairy tale of having a movie with both of us, with the possibility of another nomination, in a way, is to say that art has to prevail. It has prevailed. Art has resisted in a powerful way, as Eunice teaches Marcelo to be the writer that he is, that one day he would write the book about her,” she says.

“She’s a woman from the fifties, who was young in the fifties, raised to be a housewife. She cooked perfectly. She had all the skills that a perfect housewife should have at that time. At the same time she was very intellectual,” Torres explains about this woman’s heroism in the face of extreme adversity. “This tragedy forces her to become herself. But she never did it in order to be recognized to the world, which is something very feminine. She never wanted to be recognized through the law, through justice,” she notes, adding that, “she was a very important woman. She made part of the new constitution of Brazil. Nowadays, where everybody’s selling themselves every day on the Internet, where the recognition, the public recognition, is so wanted. Everybody’s a star of themselves. This woman is such a reminder of what is important in life,” she adds. “She teaches us how to be honorable in life.”