Symra | I'm Still Here | EULAC Cinema Night 2025

Welcome to a Brazilian Cinema Night!

Date: Wednesday 3rd of December 

17:30: Get-together
18:30: Film screening with Introduction by filmmaker and curator Tales Mandiçoba.

About the film:
"I'm Still Here" (Portuguese: Ainda Estou Aqui) is a 2024 Brazilian political biographical drama film directed by Walter Salles. It is based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva's 2015 memoir of the same name. The film tells the true story of Eunice Paiva, a mother and activist who copes with the forced disappearance of her husband, dissident politician Rubens Paiva, during the military dictatorship in Brazil in the 1970s.

The movie is set in the 1970s in Rio de Janeiro, where the Paiva family lives an idyllic life until armed men take Rubens away for questioning, and he is never seen again. The film then follows Eunice as she fights to keep her family together and seeks justice for her husband. The narrative also touches on the political instability in Brazil during this period, including the monitoring and persecution of political opponents.

"I'm Still Here" premiered on September 1, 2024, at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, where it received critical acclaim and won the Best Screenplay award. It has been recognized as one of the Top 5 International Films of 2024 by the National Board of Review and won the Oscar for Best International Film. The film also received the FIPRESCI Grand Prix for Best Film of the Year in 2025.

The director, Walter Salles, had a personal connection to the story, as he knew and spent time with the Paiva family before the events depicted. The film stars Fernanda Torres as Eunice Paiva and Selton Mello as Rubens Paiva, with Fernanda Montenegro also appearing as an older Eunice.

About the European Cinema Night and EULAC Cinema Nights:
Launched in 2018 in partnership with the European Commission, European Cinema Nights celebrates the richness and diversity of European cinema and highlights the role of the EU’s MEDIA programme in supporting film culture and the audiovisual sector.

In 2025, the initiative expands globally with EULAC Cinema Nights - a special edition in collaboration with cinemas across Latin America & the Caribbean.

European and Latin American cinematic voices will be united throughout November as nearly 30 cinemas across 16 Latin American & the Caribbean countries will screen co-productions. On the European side, from 1-5 December, 93 cinemas from all EU Member States will join, spotlighting films born from such international collaboration.

The initiative is jointly organised by the Creative Europe MEDIA programme, the European External Action Service and Europa Cinemas, in cooperation with the Conference of Ibero-American Audiovisual and Cinematographic Authorities (CAACI).

Welcome!