‘I’m Still Here’ Drama Gets 10-Minute Ovation at Venice Film Festival

Walter Salles’ film, I’m Still Here, made its debut at the Venice Film Festival, marking the Brazilian filmmaker’s first narrative feature in 12 years. The festival’s audience welcomed the competition drama with a heartwarming 10-minute, 20-second ovation.

The film tells an emotional political drama about a woman determined to uncover the fate of her husband, who vanished after being arrested by the military police at their Rio de Janeiro home in 1970.

Salles, known for acclaimed films like Central Station and The Motorcycle Diaries, attended the festival along with the film’s cast members Fernanda Torres and Selton Mello. Also present was Marcelo Rubens Paiva, the author of the memoir on which the film is based.

Set in Brazil in 1971, I’m Still Here paints a portrait of a country in the grip of a tightening military dictatorship. The story is drawn from Paiva’s memoir about his mother, Eunice Paiva. It follows a mother of five who has to reinvent her life after her husband is taken from their beachfront home by the military police, only to mysteriously disappear while in their custody.

The screenplay was crafted by Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega.

In May of this year, Sony Pictures Classics acquired all rights for the film in North America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Turkey, Portugal, and Australia and New Zealand.

The film is produced by VideoFilmes, RT Features, and Mact Productions, in collaboration with Conspiração, Arte France Cinéma, and Globoplay. Library Pictures International is among the financiers of the film.