The streets of Rio de Janeiro are filled with individuals imitating Fernanda Torres, drinking beer, clutching plastic Oscars, and giving impromptu acceptance speeches in anticipation of her potential success at the Academy Awards. This phenomenon highlights Torres’ rise to fame not only within Brazil but also on an international scale. Despite her widespread popularity in Brazil, Torres has achieved something that many of her peers and predecessors have long been without: international recognition. Her recent Golden Globe win for Best Actress has propelled her into an international campaign for the Oscars with her film “I’m Still Here”, which is also nominated for Best International Feature and, in history-making fashion, Best Picture.
Brasilian actress Fernanda Torres is receiving nominations for Best Actress, while the film “I’m Still Here” is in the running for Best International Feature and the first-ever nomination for Best Picture for a Brazilian movie. The success of both Torres and her film has already made them a cultural phenomenon in Brazil with intense online support, media coverage, and even screenings by the country’s president. This success has led to Brazil experiencing a feeling of national pride akin to the support for the country’s national soccer team.
Torres expressed in an interview that Brazilian culture lacks international recognition and communication with the world, leaving many aware of international cultures but with little knowledge of Brazil. For generations, Brazil has produced a vibrant tapestry of art, music, literature, and film that has been widely celebrated within the country but not outside of it. Notable examples of Brazilian culture reaching international audiences include the actress Carmen Miranda, who became a Hollywood sensation in the 1940s, and the music genre Bossa Nova in the 1950s. However, Brazilian culture has predominantly been recognized internationally through soccer, samba, and Carnival.
One of the barriers to the global exposure of Brazilian culture has been language, with many Brazilian artists gaining broader audiences by performing in languages other than Portuguese. However, the global appeal of Brazilian art and culture has been recognized by international artists such as Quentin Tarantino, Spike Lee, Martin Scorsese, Kurt Cobain, and Paul Simon.
A cultural divide has seen works from poorer countries often overlooked by the West, relegating those countries to categories such as “global music” and Latin at awards like the Grammys and the foreign-language category of the Oscars. This year saw exceptions, with Milton Nascimento nominated for Best Jazz Album at the Grammys and Fernanda Torres receiving support at both the Grammys and the Oscars.
Given that the “mutt complex”, or the inferiority complex related to Brazil’s mixed-race identity, still exists, the success of Torres and her film “I’m Still Here” at the upcoming Oscars is seen as redemptive. In Brazil, the support for her is immense, with her Instagram posts garnering significant attention and a primetime television broadcast being rescheduled to cover the Oscars.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/world/americas/oscars-im-still-here-brazil.html
