Oscars 2025: How 'I'm Still Here' finally won the award that slipped through Brazil's fingers in 1999 with 'Central do Brasil' (Central Station)

So, the Oscars 2025 finally awarded a Brazilian movie.

Disclaimer: Look, I’m Brazilian. Of course, I think Central Station should have won the Oscar in 1999. But this isn’t about personal bias. This is about history, the Academy, the industry, and why it took 26 years for Brazil to finally (fast-forward to Oscars 2025) get the win that slipped through our fingers.

Central Station (Central do Brasil) may have lost back then, but I'm Still Here—directed by the same Walter Salles—did what its predecessor couldn’t.

That said, this isn’t just a personal take. The debates surrounding Central Station’s loss and I'm Still Here’s victory remain relevant in film discourse today. Fans and critics alike still discuss what happened in 1999, and now, with Brazil finally securing its long-overdue Oscar, the conversation feels more important than ever.

And yet, in a cruel twist of fate, neither Fernanda Montenegro nor Fernanda Torres walked away with a Best Actress Oscar award, despite delivering performances that could humble half of Hollywood.

And speaking of Hollywood—when Fernanda Torres won the Golden Globe, the room felt it. Cate Blanchett, ever the queen of composure, had that slight nod of approval, the "I see you" look. Meryl Streep, a woman who has seen and won it all, clapped like someone who recognized the weight of the moment. Jennifer Lawrence? She was caught on camera mouthing what can only be assumed to be a very clear "Holy sh*t."

For a brief moment, the Golden Globes felt like something more than just another Hollywood ceremony. It was history unfolding in real time. A Brazilian actress, standing on that stage, accepting an award that had never gone to someone from her country before.

It wasn’t just about I'm Still Here or even about Fernanda Torres—it was about every Latin American actor and actress who had ever been told that their work wasn’t "mainstream" enough, every non-English performance that was overlooked, and every story that was dismissed as too "regional" to matter.

Some things change. Some things stay the same.

---

Oscars 2025: A long time coming and Brazil’s road to Oscar redemption

The year was 1999. The Matrix blew our minds, Britney Spears released "...Baby One More Time," and Brazil came painfully close to winning its first Oscar.

Central Station had everything. A deeply human story. A career-defining performance from Fernanda Montenegro. A vision of Brazil that was raw, poetic, and unflinching. But then came Life Is Beautiful, an Italian crowd-pleaser that wrapped war trauma in humor and whimsy. The Academy ate it up.

Fast forward to 2025, and Brazil finally claims its long-awaited victory with I'm Still Here. The twist? It’s another Walter Salles film. It has that same emotional punch. And yet, this time, the Academy actually paid attention.

So, what changed?

---

What changed? The Academy, the industry, and the audience

Here’s the thing. In 1999, the Academy had a type. It loved sentimental, uplifting narratives wrapped in historical tragedy (Schindler’s List, Life Is Beautiful). It wasn’t ready for something as quietly devastating as Central Station.

But times changed.

By 2025, the Academy had evolved—or at least learned to pretend it had. The success of Parasite in 2019 kicked open doors that had been bolted shut for decades. Suddenly, global audiences weren’t just watching foreign films; they were championing them.

The internet also changed the game. Back in 1999, Central Station relied on theatrical distribution and word-of-mouth. I'm Still Here, on the other hand, had a limited theatrical release in the United States, starting in Los Angeles and New York on January 17, 2025, before expanding nationwide on February 14, 2025.

While it wasn’t available on major streaming platforms before Oscar voting, its theatrical rollout ensured it reached key audiences and generated enough buzz to solidify its place in the awards conversation. The world had already decided—it was time.

---

Why the Academy finally saw Central Station's legacy

The irony? The same things that made Central Station a masterpiece in 1999 are what made I'm Still Here resonate in 2025. And in this movie?

Both films deliver an unfiltered, deeply emotional look at Brazilian society. Both are led by performances that don’t just move you—they wreck you. But I'm Still Here had the advantage of arriving at a time when audiences—and, more importantly, the Academy—had stopped equating "universal appeal" with "European storytelling."

In the 1990s, the Academy wanted films that felt international but still played by Hollywood’s rules. By 2025, voters had learned that a powerful, culturally specific story could resonate worldwide.

Think about Parasite. Bong Joon-ho once said he thought it would mostly speak to Korean audiences—until it won Best Picture. The same shift happened here. The Academy finally understood that a film doesn’t have to be set in New York or Paris to be universally powerful.

A story of connection and communication

At its core, Central Station is about human connection—both in a literal and emotional sense.

Dora, a former schoolteacher, makes a living writing letters for illiterate people in Rio de Janeiro’s bustling train station. When one of her clients dies, she finds herself stuck with the woman’s young son, forced into an unexpected journey to find his father.

A universal struggle: the right to be heard

If there’s one thing that transcends cultures, it’s the need to be heard. To belong. To matter.

Dora starts off cynical. The kid is desperate. Their dynamic is messy, heartbreaking, and painfully real—which is exactly why it resonated far beyond Brazil.

A rarity in cinema: the right to communication

But Central Station didn’t just tell a moving story. It tackled something that very few films dare to explore: the fundamental right to communication.

Hollywood loves stories about survival, love, and war, but how often do we see a film about people struggling just to be able to express themselves? The inability to read or write isn’t just a logistical issue—it’s a human one. Central Station highlighted that reality in a way that was impossible to ignore.

---

The Academy’s narrow lens in 1999

A film ahead of its time

The problem wasn’t Central Station. The problem was when it came out.

It was a film about poverty, abandonment, and redemption, told with brutal honesty. But in the late ‘90s, the Academy was drawn to historical epics, feel-good dramas, and movies that made suffering more digestible.

The sentimental vs. the raw

And that’s where Life Is Beautiful had the edge. It took horror and heartbreak and wrapped them in humor and whimsy. Meanwhile, Central Station was painfully real, refusing to sugarcoat its characters' struggles.

The Academy wasn’t ready for that kind of honesty.

---

Ah, the irony: A tale of two Fernandas and the Golden Globes

In a twist that could have been written for the screen, the journeys of Brazil’s two legendary actresses, Fernanda Montenegro and her daughter, Fernanda Torres, add another layer of poetic irony to this Oscar moment (now, together working in I'm Still Here.) Even the title of the film is poetically ironic.

In 1999, Montenegro’s performance in Central Station earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, making her the first Brazilian actress recognized in that category. However, she did not win, and the film itself only took home the award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Fast forward to 2025, and history plays out in a strikingly similar way. While I'm Still Here finally secured Brazil’s long-overdue Oscar for Best International Feature, Fernanda Torres—who delivered a career-defining performance—won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, becoming the first Brazilian to win in that category.

Yet, despite this historic achievement, she did not take home the Oscar for Best Actress, mirroring her mother’s experience decades earlier. The irony is undeniable.

The mother saw her film come heartbreakingly close to an Oscar win but walked away without a statue for her performance. The daughter, years later, starred in the film (with her mother) that finally secured Brazil’s victory, yet the acting award still slipped through the family’s fingers.

Some might call it fate; others, an unfinished chapter in the Academy’s recognition of Brazilian talent.

---

A win beyond the award

At the end of the day, I'm Still Here winning the Oscars 2025 isn’t just about one movie. It was about a journey that took longer than a quarter of a century. 26 years.

It is about the filmmakers who kept pushing, the audiences who never stopped believing, and the slow but undeniable shift in how international films are viewed in Hollywood.

Walter Salles’s long-overdue win wasn’t just about him—it was about an entire generation of Brazilian filmmakers who proved, time and time again, that their stories deserved to be seen.

For Brazil, this wasn’t just a trophy.

It was validation. It was a reminder that great cinema transcends borders.

And, maybe, it was just the beginning.