“Emilia Perez” Star Karla Sofía Gascón Earns Historic Academy Awards Nomination

Karla Sofía Gascón has made Academy Awards history….

The 2025 Oscar nominations have been announced, with the 52-year-old Spanish actress  earning a nod, making her the first openly trans person ever to be nominated in an acting category.

Karla Sofía GascónGascón is recognized in the Best Actress category for her leading role in Jacques Audiard’s musical Netflix film, Emilia Pérez. Her nomination comes on the heels of recent Golden Globe, SAG Awards and BAFTA Film Awards nominations for Gascón’s breakthrough performance. 

In Emilia Pérez, Gascón stars as a cartel leader who turns to Mexico City lawyer Rita (Zoë Saldaña), to help her live as her authentic self. Selena Gomez stars as Emilia’s wife Jessi and Adriana Paz as Emilia’s girlfriend Epifanía.

Gascón first made awards history with the role at the Cannes Film Festival when all four actresses shared the Best Actress award, with Gascón being the first openly trans actress ever to win the prize.

In October, Gascón discussed her feelings around representation with Deadline, saying, “I represent, obviously, the minority that I represent. But I think that I represent a lot of people in this world that want, or need, to be free. I’m talking about my colleagues, other actors that are coming up, that started from the bottom and have been working for a long time and have felt that rejection and continue to work and continue to learn and continue to grow. I think that’s maybe one of the very important groups of people that I represent. And I hope that I represent hope for my colleagues.”

Gascón’s co-star, Saldaña, has earned her first-ever Oscars nomination.

The 46-year-old Puerto Rican and Dominican American actress is nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category for portraying Rita in the Netflix film.

Fernanda Torres has earned her first Oscar nod.

The 59-year-old Brazilian screen and stage actress and writer landed a Best Actress nomination this morning for her leading turn in Walter Salles’ latest I’m Still Here.

Torres is only the second Brazilian actress to receive an Oscar nomination. The first was her mother, Fernanda Montenegro, who was nominated in 1999 for Central Station, also directed by Salles.

Monica Barbaro has earned her first-ever Oscar nomination.

Barbaro is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as folk legend Joan Baez in A Complete Unknown.

Colman Domingo is celebrating a second consecutive Best Actor nod.

The 55-year-old Emmy-winning Belizean-Guatemalan American actor and activist, a best actor nominee last year for Rustin, is nominated this year for Sing Sing.

He’s the first person to earn best actor Oscar nominations in back-to-back years since Denzel Washington did so for Fences in 2017 and Roman J. Israel, Esq. in 2018.

Domingo garnered his second Oscar nomination on Thursday after making history last year as the first Afro-Latino to be nominated in the best actor category.

Rachel Sennott and Bowen Yang announced this year’s nominees live at 5:30 a.m. PT from the Film Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Walter Salles has two Oscar nominations this year…

 Previously nominated in 1999 in the Best International Feature Film category for Central Station, The 68-year-old Brazilian filmmaker and film editor is nominated for Best Picture and Best International Feature Film for helming I’m Still Here.

The 97th Academy Awards, hosted by Conan O’Brien, will air live coast-to-coast on Sunday, March 2, from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood, starting at 4:00 pm PT / 7:00 pm ET, continuing with the earlier start time the show debuted last year, on ABC and Hulu.

Here’s a complete list of the 2025 Oscar nominees:

Best Picture
Anora (Alex Coco, Samantha Quan and Sean Baker, Producers)
The Brutalist (Nominees to be determined)
A Complete Unknown (Fred Berger, James Mangold and Alex Heineman, Producers)
Conclave (Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell and Michael A. Jackman, Producers)
Dune: Part Two (Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Tanya Lapointe and Denis Villeneuve, Producers)
Emilia Pérez (Nominees to be determined)
I’m Still Here (Nominees to be determined)
Nickel Boys (Nominees to be determined)
The Substance (Nominees to be determined)
Wicked (Marc Platt, Producer)

Directing
Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez
Sean Baker, Anora
Brady Corbet, The Brutalist
Coralie Fargeat, The Substance
James Mangold, A Complete Unknown

Actor in a Leading Role
Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes, Conclave
Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice

Actress in a Leading Role
Cynthia Erivo, Wicked
Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez
Mikey Madison, Anora
Demi Moore, The Substance
Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here

Actor in a Supporting Role
Yura Borisov, Anora
Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown
Guy Pearce, The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice

Actress in a Supporting Role
Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown
Ariana Grande, Wicked
Felicity Jones, The Brutalist
Isabella Rossellini, Conclave
Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
A Complete Unknown (Screenplay by James Mangold and Jay Cocks)
Conclave (Screenplay by Peter Straughan)
Emilia Pérez (Screenplay by Jacques Audiard; In collaboration with Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius and Nicolas Livecchi)
Nickel Boys (Screenplay by RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes)
Sing Sing (Screenplay by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar; Story by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, John “Divine G” Whitfield)

Writing (Original Screenplay)
Anora (Written by Sean Baker)
The Brutalist (Written by Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold)
A Real Pain (Written by Jesse Eisenberg)
September 5 (Written by Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum; Co-Written by Alex David)
The Substance (Written by Coralie Fargeat)

Animated Feature Film
Flow (Nominees to be determined)
Inside Out 2 (Kelsey Mann and Mark Nielsen)
Memoir of a Snail (Adam Elliot and Liz Kearney)
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Nominees to be determined)
The Wild Robot (Chris Sanders and Jeff Hermann)

Animated Short Film
Beautiful Men (Nicolas Keppens and Brecht Van Elslande)
In the Shadow of the Cypress (Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi)
Magic Candies (Daisuke Nishio and Takashi Washio)
Wander to Wonder (Nina Gantz and Stienette Bosklopper)
Yuck! (Loïc Espuche and Juliette Marquet)

Cinematography
The Brutalist (Lol Crawley)
Dune: Part Two (Greig Fraser)
Emilia Pérez (Paul Guilhaume)
Maria (Ed Lachman)
Nosferatu (Jarin Blaschke)

Costume Design
A Complete Unknown (Arianne Phillips)
Conclave (Lisy Christl)
Gladiator II (Janty Yates and Dave Crossman)
Nosferatu (Linda Muir)
Wicked (Paul Tazewell)

Film Editing
Anora (Sean Baker)
The Brutalist (David Jancso)
Conclave (Nick Emerson)
Emilia Pérez (Juliette Welfling)
Wicked (Myron Kerstein)

Makeup and Hairstyling
A Different Man (Mike Marino, David Presto and Crystal Jurado)
Emilia Pérez (Julia Floch Carbonel, Emmanuel Janvier and Jean-Christophe Spadaccini)
Nosferatu (David White, Traci Loader and Suzanne Stokes-Munton)
The Substance (Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon and Marilyne Scarselli)
Wicked (Frances Hannon, Laura Blount and Sarah Nuth)

Live-Action Short Film
A Lien (Sam Cutler-Kreutz and David Cutler-Kreutz)
Anuja (Adam J. Graves and Suchitra Mattai)
I’m Not a Robot (Victoria Warmerdam and Trent)
The Last Ranger (Cindy Lee and Darwin Shaw)
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (Nebojša Slijepčević and Danijel Pek)

Music (Original Score)
The Brutalist (Daniel Blumberg)
Conclave (Volker Bertelmann)
Emilia Pérez (Clément Ducol and Camille)
Wicked (John Powell and Stephen Schwartz)
The Wild Robot (Kris Bowers)

Music (Original Song)
“El Mal” from Emilia Pérez (Music by Clément Ducol and Camille; Lyric by Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard)
“The Journey” from The Six Triple Eight (Music and Lyric by Diane Warren)
“Like a Bird” from Sing Sing (Music and Lyric by Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada)
“Mi Camino” from Emilia Pérez (Music and Lyric by Camille and Clément Ducol)
“Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late (Music and Lyric by Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt and Bernie Taupin)

Documentary Feature Film
Black Box Diaries (Shiori Ito, Eric Nyari and Hanna Aqvilin)
No Other Land (Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham)
Porcelain War (Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev, Aniela Sidorska and Paula DuPre’ Pesmen)
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Johan Grimonprez, Daan Milius and Rémi Grellety)
Sugarcane (Nominees to be determined)

Documentary Short Film
Death by Numbers (Kim A. Snyder and Janique L. Robillard)
I Am Ready, Warden 
(Smriti Mundhra and Maya Gnyp)
Incident
 (Bill Morrison and Jamie Kalven)
Instruments of a Beating Heart
 (Ema Ryan Yamazaki and Eric Nyari)
The Only Girl in the Orchestra (Molly O’Brien and Lisa Remington)

International Feature Film
I’m Still Here (Brazil)
The Girl With the Needle (Denmark)
Emilia Pérez (France)
The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Germany)
Flow (Latvia)

Production Design
The Brutalist (Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Patricia Cuccia)
Conclave (Production Design: Suzie Davies; Set Decoration: Cynthia Sleiter)
Dune: Part Two (Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau)
Nosferatu (Production Design: Craig Lathrop; Set Decoration: Beatrice Brentnerová)
Wicked (Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales)

Sound
A Complete Unknown (Tod A. Maitland, Donald Sylvester, Ted Caplan, Paul Massey and David Giammarco)
Dune: Part Two (Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill)
Emilia Pérez (Erwan Kerzanet, Aymeric Devoldère, Maxence Dussère, Cyril Holtz and Niels Barletta)
Wicked (Simon Hayes, Nancy Nugent Title, Jack Dolman, Andy Nelson and John Marquis)
The Wild Robot (Randy Thom, Brian Chumney, Gary A. Rizzo and Leff Lefferts)

Visual Effects
Alien: Romulus (Eric Barba, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser, Daniel Macarin and Shane Mahan)
Better Man (Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft and Peter Stubbs)
Dune: Part Two (Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe and Gerd Nefzer)
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (Erik Winquist, Stephen Unterfranz, Paul Story and Rodney Burke)
Wicked (Pablo Helman, Jonathan Fawkner, David Shirk and Paul Corbould)

“Emilia Perez” Star Zoe Saldaña Wins FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress at Palm Springs International Film Festival

Zoe Saldaña is celebrating a Palm Springs honor…

The 46-year-old Puerto Rican and Dominican American actress, who recently won her first Golden Globes award, has claimed the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress in an International Feature Film at the 36th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Zoe Saldaña, Emilia PerezIn awarding Saldaña with the prize, jurors cited “the ferocity and complexity of her performance in Emilia Pérez, which shows a virtuosic range of expression, from song and dance to her potent interpretation of a morally shaded character. Although her character plays a supporting role, she drives the narrative with the power of a protagonist.”

I’m Still Here bested several other Oscar-shortlisted International Feature Film contenders including Emilia Pérez, for the FIPRESCI Prize.

A special jury of international film critics determined the winner of the FIPRESCI Prize, praising the drama directed by Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles “for conveying the horror of encroaching dictatorship from the intimate perspective of a mother defending not just her family of five, but her dignity. Evoking the severity of the violence without resorting to melodrama, director Walter Salles captures a critical moment of history in scrupulous and compelling detail.”

The FIPRESCI jury members included Brian D. Johnson (Canadian Film Critic), Marcelo Janot (Brazilian Film Critic), and Paola Caseslla (Italian Film Critic).

Selena Gomez Earns Two Golden Globe Nominations

Selena Gomez is celebrating a special double

The 2025 Golden Globes nominations have been announced, with the 32-year-old American singer, actress, producer, and businesswoman scoring two nods.

Selena GomezGomez picked up her third consecutive Golden Globe nomination for her acclaimed work as Mabel Mora in Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building.

Additionally, Gomez picked up a nod in the Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture category for work in Emilia Perez, a Netflix musical that received the most nominations from the Golden Globes Foundation with 10.

Gomez and her Emilia Perez co-stars won the Best Actress prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Gomez’s Emilia Perez cast mates, Karla Sofia Gascon and Zoe Saldana, have also earned Golden Globe nods. 

Gascon, a 52-year-old Spanish actress who was recently named Best Actress at the European Film Awards, earned a nod for Best Comedy/Musical Actress – Motion Picture, becoming the first out transgender woman to be nominated in a film category.

Meanwhile, Saldana will compete against Gomez in the Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture category. It’s the 46-year-old Puerto Rican and Dominican American actress’ first-ever Golden Globe nomination.

Colman Domingo has picked up a nod in the Best Drama Actor – Motion Picture category.

The 55-year-old Emmy-winning Belizean-Guatemalan American actor and activist, who recently won the Outstanding Lead Performance at the Gotham Awards, earned the nod for his work in Sing Sing.

Fernanda Torres has earned her first-ever Golden Globe nomination.

The 59-year-old Brazilian film, stage and television actress and writer is up for Best Drama Actress – Motion Picture for her performance in the Brazilian film Im Still Here, which earned Brazilian director Walter Salles his fourth Best Foreign Language Film nod.

It’s an award her previously won in 1999 for his film Central Station.

Sofía Vergara is nominated in the Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actress category for Griselda.

It’s the 52-year-old Colombian actress’ fifth Golden Globe nod.

Javier Bardem has picked up a monster nod.

The 55-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning actor, who previously won a Golden Globe for No Country for Old Men, is nominated in the Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film category for Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

Bardem will compete against Diego Luna in the Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film category.

The 44-year-old Mexican actor, director and producer, who previously earned his first-ever Golden Globes nod last year for his work on Andor, received the nod for his performance in La Máquina this year.

Liza Colón-Zayas has earned her first-ever Golden Globes nod.

The 52-year-old Latina actress and playwright is up for Best TV Supporting Actress for her work on The Bear, a role that earned her a Primetime Emmy earlier this year.

The 2025 Golden Globes take place on Sunday, January 5, 2025, beginning at 8:00 pm ET/5:00 pm PT. The ceremony will air live on CBS linear television and also stream live via Paramount+ for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers.

This year’s show is hosted by comedian Nikki Glaser.

Here’s a look at the complete list of nominees:

The 2025 Golden Globes Nominees:

FILM

Best Drama
“The Brutalist”
“A Complete Unknown”
“Conclave”
“Dune: Part Two”
“Nickel Boys”
“September 5”

Best Drama Actor
Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”
Timothée Chalamet, “A Complete Unknown”
Daniel Craig, “Queer”
Colman Domingo, “Sing Sing”
Ralph Fiennes, “Conclave”
Sebastian Stan, “The Apprentice”

Best Drama Actress
Angelina Jolie, “Maria”
Nicole Kidman, “Babygirl”
Tilda Swinton, “The Room Next Door”
Fernanda Torres, “I’m Still Here”
Pamela Anderson, “The Last Showgirl”
Kate Winslet, “Lee”

Best Comedy/Musical
“Anora”
“Challengers”
“Emilia Pérez”
“A Real Pain”
“The Substance”
“Wicked”

Best Comedy/Musical Actor
Jesse Eisenberg, “A Real Pain”
Hugh Grant, “Heretic”
Gabriel LaBelle, “Saturday Night”
Jesse Plemons, “Kinds of Kindness”
Glen Powell, “Hit Man”
Sebastian Stan, “A Different Man”

Best Comedy/Musical Actress
Amy Adams, “Nightbitch”
Cynthia Erivo, “Wicked”
Karla Sofía Gascón, “Emilia Pérez”
Mikey Madison, “Anora”
Demi Moore, “The Substance”
Zendaya, “Challengers”

Best Supporting Actor
Denzel Washington, “Gladiator II”
Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain”
Guy Pearce, “The Brutalist”
Jeremy Strong, “The Apprentice”
Yura Borisov, “Anora”
Edward Norton, “A Complete Unknown”

Best Supporting Actress
Zoe Saldaña, “Emilia Pérez”
Ariana Grande, “Wicked”
Selena Gomez, “Emilia Pérez”
Felicity Jones, “The Brutalist”
Margaret Qualley, “The Substance”
Isabella Rossellini, “Conclave”

Best Director
Jacques Audiard, “Emilia Pérez”
Sean Baker, “Anora”
Brady Corbet, “The Brutalist”
Edward Berger, “Conclave”
Coralie Fargeat, “The Substance”
Payal Kapadia, “All We Imagine as Light”

Best Screenplay
“Emilia Pérez”
“Anora”
“The Brutalist”
“A Real Pain”
“The Substance”
“Conclave”

Best Original Score
“The Brutalist”
“Conclave”
“The Wild Robot”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Challengers”
“Dune: Part Two” 

Best Original Song
“The Last Showgirl” – “Beautiful That Way”
“Challengers” – “Compress/Repress”
“Emilia Pérez” – “El Mal”
“Better Man” – “Forbidden Road”
“The Wild Robot” — “Kiss the Sky”
“Emilia Pérez” – “Mi Camino”

Best Animated Feature
“Flow”
“Inside Out 2”
“Memoir of a Snail”
“Moana 2”
“Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl”
“The Wild Robot”

Best Film In a Language Other Than English
“All We Imagine as Light”
“Emilia Pérez”
“The Girl With the Needle”
“I’m Still Here”
“The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
“Vermiglio”

Best Cinematic and Box Office Achievement
“Alien: Romulus”
“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”
“Deadpool & Wolverine”
“Gladiator 2”
“Inside Out 2”
“Twisters”
“Wicked”
“The Wild Robot”

TELEVISION 

Best Comedy Series
“Hacks”
“Abbott Elementary”
“Only Murders in the Building”
“Nobody Wants This”
“The Gentlemen”
“The Bear” 

Best TV Comedy Actor
Adam Brody, “Nobody Wants This”
Ted Danson, “A Man on the Inside”
Steve Martin, “Only Murders in the Building”
Jason Segel, “Shrinking”
Martin Short, “Only Murders in the Building”
Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear”

Best TV Comedy Actress
Kathryn Hahn, “Agatha All Along”
Jean Smart, “Hacks”
Quinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary”
Selena Gomez, “Only Murders in the Building”
Ayo Edebiri, “The Bear”
Kristen Bell, “Nobody Wants This”

Best Drama Series
“The Day of the Jackal”
“The Diplomat”
“Mr. and Mrs. Smith”
“Shōgun”
“Slow Horses”
“Squid Game”

Best TV Drama Actor
Donald Glover, “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”
Jake Gyllenhaal, “Presumed Innocent”
Gary Oldman, “Slow Horses”
Eddie Redmayne, “The Day of the Jackal”
Hiroyuki Sanada, “Shōgun”
Billy Bob Thornton, “Landman” 

Best TV Drama Actress
Kathy Bates, “Matlock”
Emma D’Arcy, “House of the Dragon”
Maya Erskine, “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”
Keira Knightley, “Black Doves”
Anna Sawai, “Shōgun”
Keri Russell, “The Diplomat” 

Best TV Movie/Limited Series
“Baby Reindeer”
“Disclaimer”
“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”
“The Penguin”
“Ripley”
“True Detective: Night Country”

Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor
Colin Farrell, “The Penguin”
Richard Gadd, “Baby Reindeer”
Kevin Kline, “Disclaimer”
Cooper Koch, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”
Ewan McGregor, “A Gentleman in Moscow”
Andrew Scott, “Ripley”

Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actress
Cate Blanchett, “Disclaimer”
Jodie Foster, “True Detective: Night Country”
Cristin Milioti, “The Penguin”
Sofía Vergara, “Griselda”
Naomi Watts, “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans”
Kate Winslet, “The Regime”

Best TV Supporting Actor
Tadanobu Asano, “Shōgun”
Javier Bardem, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”
Harrison Ford, “Shrinking”
Jack Lowden, “Slow Horses”
Diego Luna, “La Máquina”
Ebon Moss-Bachrach, “The Bear”

Best TV Supporting Actress 
Jessica Gunning, “Baby Reindeer”
Liza Colón-Zayas, “The Bear”
Hannah Einbinder, “Hacks”
Dakota Fanning, “Ripley”
Allison Janney, “The Diplomat”
Kali Reis, “True Detective: Night Country”

Best Stand-Up Comedian on Television
Jamie Foxx, “What Had Happened Was”
Nikki Glaser, “Someday You’ll Die”
Seth Meyers, “Dad Man Walking”
Adam Sandler, “Love You”
Ali Wong, “Single Lady”
Ramy Youssef, “More Feelings”

Walter Salles to Take Part in Conversations Program at Upcoming Marrakech International Film Festival

Walter Salles will be opening up at this year’s Marrakech International Film Festival.

The 68-year-old Brazilian filmmaker, best known for his Golden Bear-winning film Central Station, is among the A-listers taking part in the conversations program for the festival’s upcoming 21st edition.

Walter Salles,In all, 18 leading directors, actors, scriptwriters and producers will participate.

Salles is in the middle of a buzzy Oscar campaign for his Best International Feature Film contender I’m Still Here.

Other participating Hollywood A-listers include U.S. director and screenwriter Ava Du Vernay, French Oscar winner Justine Triet and U.S director Tim Burton.

Speakers also include Mohammed Rasoulof, who has Oscar buzz for The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, as well as Canadian director and screenwriter David Cronenberg and U.S. actor-director Sean Penn, who are being feted by the festival with career awards this year.

Moroccan filmmakers Alaa Eddine Aljem, Yasmine Benkiran, Ismaël El Iraki and Kamal Lazraq will be in conversation about their first films.

The Marrakech International Film Festival runs from November 29 to December 7.

Mariana Lima to Star in Walter Salles-Directed Film “I’m Still Here”

Mariana Lima is still here

The 48-year-old Brazilian actress will star in I’m Still Here, which will be directed by Walter Salles.

Mariana Lima

The film is based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s best-selling memoir about his mother Eunice Paiva, a housewife forced to reinvent herself as an activist when her husband fell victim to the military regime that took control of Brazil in 1964. Her husband became among many who were tortured and disappeared with no due process.

Lima, one of Brazil’s most acclaimed actresses with credits that include Dark Days and Father’s Chair, will play Paiva.

Murilo Hauser scripted the 2019 Un Certain Regard winning-Invisible Life, adapted the screenplay, with Salles overseeing the development process.

The film is set to begin production in Brazil early next year, with Library Pictures International providing financing. CAA Media Finance will broker domestic distribution while Wild Bunch is handling international sales, excluding Brazil.

The author was 11 when his father, leftist congressman Rubens Paiva, was dragged off for interrogation by the military, this after he returned from exile. He was never seen again. His wife campaigned relentlessly to find his whereabouts, at a very dangerous time when Brazilian was controlled by military dictatorship. Eunice Paiva was arrested along with her husband and held in a dark cell for 12 days before taking on her new role, which would become a race against Alzheimer’s Disease. While she was still able, she got to the bottom of her husband’s disappearance and made sure the records of events were recorded to be shared with future generations. It was concluded by the National Truth Commission that her husband had been tortured to death for receiving letters from leftist organizations. The tragic history of torture in Brazil came to light recently when Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro waxed nostalgic for the days when the military dictatorship was in place, much to the outrage of many.

“Most of my personal projects required very long development processes, back to Central Station, which was five years, and Motorcycle Diaries was four,” Salles said. “None took as much time as this one that I in part was a witness to when I was 13 years old,”

Salles said he prepped I’m Still Here in relative secrecy, he knew from moment one that he wanted Lima for his protagonist.

“Mariana is an extraordinary theater actress, and one of the most sensitive film actresses of her generation in Brazil,” Salles said. “We’ve talked about collaborating, but I waited to find the role that could truly benefit from her extraordinary talent to give birth to this character. I thought of her since the very beginning, because of her unique talent and the economy she has in transmitting the emotional core of a character and a story. [Eunice Paiva] had to build an internal fortress to survive, but you could sense the trauma she went through. Marina is the actress to best portray this role. I most like movies where the arc of the main character somehow reflects the arc of the country itself as it goes through a specific period of time and tries to determine what it wants to be,” he said. “We had that in Central Station, and we have it here.

“Having known Eunice, her husband and her children, makes this is a very unique project to me,” Salles said. “I never came so close to my own life experience in a movie than this. In that sense, it feels a little like my Roma, in terms of the personal nature of Alfonso Cuaron’s film which I love so much.”

Wagner Moura Signs with William Morris Endeavor (WME)

It’s a new endeavor for Wagner Moura

The 44-year-old Brazilian actor, filmmaker, musician and journalist has signed with William Morris Endeavor (WME).

Wagner Moura

Moura, a Golden Globe nominee for his role as Pablo Escobar in the Netflix acclaimed series Narcos, was previously represented by UTA.

He can currently be seen starring in two Netflix films; Sergio, which he also produced, and Wasp Network, opposite Penelope Cruz and Gael Garcia Bernal.

Wagner made his directorial debut with Marighella, which premiered at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival.

His other credits include Walter SallesBehind The Sun for Miramax, Sony’s Elysium, opposite Matt Damon, and Jose Padilha’s Elite Squad, which won the Golden Bear at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival.

AMC Networks Acquires Braga’s “On the Road”

It looks like Alice Braga’s latest film will be released in theaters this fall…

The 29-year-old Brazilian actress’ On the Road has been acquired by AMC Networks a week before it premieres in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

Alice Braga

Buying all U.S. rights to Walter Salles’ adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s classic novel of the same name, AMC Networks announced that its distribution labels IFC Films and Sundance Selects will release the film later this fall in theaters.

Along with Braga—who rose to fame following her starring role opposite Will Smith in I Am Legend—the film stars Twilight’s Kristen Stewart, TRON: Legacy’s Garrett Hedlund, Kirsten Dunst, Amy Adams, Elisabeth Moss and Viggo Mortensen.

Alice Braga's On the Road Poster

Jose Rivera wrote the screenplay for the film, which brings to life the classic novel based on the spontaneous cross-country adventures of Kerouac and his friends during the middle of the 20th century.

On the Road is considered a defining work of the postwar Beat Generation that was inspired by jazz, poetry and drug experiences. While many of the names and details of Kerouac’s experiences are changed for the novel, hundreds of references in On the Road have real-world counterparts.