I'm Still Here
Having some thoughts about the Oscars
Back in January, when the nominations were announced I could not contain the joy I felt having a movie and stars from Brazil being recognised by the Academy in such big and prestigious way, and with these nominations came the realisation that for the first time in a long time, my friends would be as excited as me for the broadcast.
I had the pleasure to share the night with them, our group chat stayed up all night waiting for the names to be called out to the stage and collect their gold statue, excitement was an understatement. At midnight we were locked in with our ballots (yes, ballots in plural, I have one for predictions and one for my personal picks) and ready to see the results unfold on the tv screen.
The 97th Academy Awards happened on Sunday, March 2, 2025, and for a broadcast that has been struggling to stay relevant with audiences, this year, I thought they were quite solid.
Conan O’Brien was a great choice of host, he did the job without undermining the films and the experience of watching movies, something we got a lot over the years with past hosts. Sure, the ceremony wasn’t perfect, it had its ups and downs, not a lot of surprises but a well paced (excluding the 5 minute and 36 seconds speech) award show.
Actually I think is safe to say that there were some surprises, I say this purely based on the best leading actress category.
Coincidently after the nominations, my friends and I had a power point party (we LOVE a theme party), each one of us had to pick a subject to present to everyone in the room, we had all kinds of themes1 and as someone who cares way too much about this show, I decided to take the opportunity to explain the Oscar voting to them.
The majority vote is used in all categories, the nominee that gets the most votes wins, except for best picture, that’s a different animal, the preferential voting is used instead, each member ranks from their favourite to their least favourite best picture nominee, the film that gets 50% first is the winner.
But if a film doesn't reach 50% on first round, then the film with less votes gets eliminated and those votes are distributed in order from top to bottom to the next films on the ranking lists, this system goes on until a film reaches 50%. Its a bit complicated to wrap your head around it.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is compost by more than 10,500 members from the film industry and all of them are allowed to cast their vote on the artists and films that touched them the most or at least had the best and effective campaign.
For artists looking to score a nomination, besides managing to make the film, now you have to sell it for the voters, you have to show them why your film is important and good, you have to do the most aggressive campaign, going to screenings and doing Q&A’s all around the USA and to some extend the world, traveling from festival to festival, photoshoots, billboards, send online and physical screeners, make appearances on tv and give countless interviews to the media.
You need to keep the talk going and the name of your movie on everyones lips, campaigning for a film is an extent and hard work, that’s why having a good distributor makes all the difference, I tip my hat off to NEON (Parasite, Anatomy of a Fall, Triangle of Sadness, Anora and more), they continue to show year after year what great work looks like.
When you’re chronically online and very aware of film discourse, the award season turns very predictable at times, the buzz around certain projects and cumulative winning on other awards, can help you figure out who's most likely to take the gold statue home. And when you’re not as immersed in film awards discourse, you might have a friend like me, that will yap about it to you.
Now, knowing all of this, when I started to see Fernanda Torres on every magazine cover, pieces written about her and the movie, big names celebrating her work, appearances on huge morning and late night tv shows, I grew hope (guys, I bought in), after Torres pulled a win at the Golden Globes, I (and all the Brazilians around the world) fully believed she was going to win the Oscar.
Even with the comeback arc of Demi Moore happening on the side, I believed Torres was the one.
Moore won the majority of the acting awards, but every time the category was split into comedy and drama actress, both would share the podium, with Torres always taking the drama and Moore the comedy. But then the BAFTA happened and Mikey Madison won. Honestly I should have had that as my first big clue, but I was in oblivion, one of my friend even called out that Madison would have a chance after that win, but I just told him it was impossible.
Anora had been sweeping the awards leading up to the Oscars and Torres was not nominated for a BAFTA or SAG, this already spoke volumes of how the race was shaping into. I was so blind by hope and desire to see Torres getting the statue that I did not paid attention to what was happening around me.
Nevertheless, when they announced the best international film winner, we were setting off fireworks (figuratively) and screaming with joy. The moment felt perfectly crafted, the anticipation as Penelope Cruz said: “I’m Still Here, Brazil”, Walter Salles hugged Torres, went up on stage, put on his glasses, only to realise he could not find his written speech, and then proceeded to thank in the name of Brazilian cinema.
(Absolute Cinema)
Just pure and sweet magic happening. I had happy tears in my eyes, watching the emotion and hard work pay off, the movie became the second highest grossing Brazilian box office success, it surpassed so many accolades around the word. It won big, simply by having this platform and reaching a vast audience, sharing the important story of a family that had to endure a big tragedy and still manage to find joy and strength to continue living.
After this amazing win, I was hyped throughout the roof, my Brazilian heart was beating so fast, I was sure Torres was getting the Oscar, in my head I’m Still Here winning, had solidified her chances.
My expectations were hit by a bus, as Emma Stone came to announce the best leading actress category, me and my friend were already filming ourselves, hyperventilating with anticipation, then the moment of truth was revealed:
“And the Oscar goes to…Mikey Madison”
I was floored, as you can see on the image above, devastated that Torres was not on the stage.
Analysing now the big three that had chances of winning (Moore, Torres and Madison), it makes a lot of sense the outcome we got. We could argue that The Substance getting best make up and hair, would also boost Moore chances of winning, since we had different iterations of the combo makeup + actor being a successful award strategy (Jessica Chastain and The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Brendan Fraser and The Whale), but even with the academy recognising and nominating horror (which is a win by it self), they don’t really reward genre films, so Moore winning for a body horror one would be a huge swing.
Then we had Torres with a movie spoken entirely in Portuguese, with a quiet and subtle performance that just guts you, a careful study on emotion and grief thought the eyes, an achievement the Academy loves to praise but always end up rewarding “loud” performances, they did the same last year, Emma Stone won with Poor Things, over the more quiet and subtle Lily Gladstone in Killers of The Flower Moon.
I’m not here saying one deserved more than the other, all of them were equally important and integral to their respective movies, but Madison also deserved her chance, I get mad when people say that she didn’t earn it.
She went and did the work, got a dialect coach for her Brighton beach accent, learned Russian, did pole dance classes, she immersed herself and spend time talking and learning with sex workers, she cared on representing them the right way and doing the best work she could.
The aftermath of Madison’s win made me quite sad, people were swearing, being aggressively nasty, going on media profiles and flooding with terrible comments on her pictures (bless her for not having social media), and saying that Moore and Torres were more deserving of the award.
Yes, I know is frustrating when the person you’re rooting for looses, but people got too angry about it. The academy has awarded far worst movies and performances, so to have and indie and good movie up there it’s a fantastic win.
Let’s stop focusing on the Fernanda Torres loss and give attention to the HUGE and historic win Brazil had, the honour that it is winning with a movie about totalitarianism and dictatorship, specially coming from 4 years of art and truth being repressed by the government. The most important thing was to see Brazilian cinema shine and be celebrated by all.
And speaking on the Academy vote, with Anora winning all the major awards (Original Screenplay, Editing, Best Director and Best Picture), it would be strange if Madison hadn’t won. When a movie is loved like this by the voters and starts to collect statues, almost 85% of the time it comes with the actor combo (Cillian Murphy and Oppenheimer, Michelle Yeoh and Everything Everywhere All at Once).
In 2024, Cord Jefferson picked up the award for best adapted screenplay for American Fiction, during his speech, he pleaded with Hollywood to take a chance on smaller films. “I understand that this is a risk-averse industry. I get it. But $200 million movies are also a risk, you know. And it doesn't always work out, but you take the risk anyway.” Jefferson said. “And instead of making one $200 million movie, try making twenty $10 million movies or fifty $4 million movies.”
In 2025, the majority of the awards were handed to films that cost less than $20 million to make. Its inspiring to see the change and I also would like to highlight The Brutalist, a period film made for 34 days, shoot on VistaVision film for a $10 million budget. (mind blowing)
Independent cinema had a big night, with Anora sweeping five out of six nominations. Making Sean Baker the first person to win four Academy Awards in one night since Walt Disney and the first one to win for a single film.
Baker really deserved the awards he received, the love and hustle of independent filmmaking runs through his veins. He has the “slice of life” way that not everyone achieves as masterfully, in particular his last two movies were (in my humble opinion), top notch, hitting the right spot of real life and movie magic.
In an era of very cheap speeches (between Adrien Brody yapping for too long and Kieran Culkin insisting on “asking” his wife for more children on award stages) Baker aced all of his, in every award ceremony he addressed the problems to the people in charge, he took the spotlight given to him, to call attention to what the industry really needs, which is real support and theatrical releases.
“We are all here tonight because we love movies. Where did we fall in love with movies? At the movie theatre,” Baker said while accepting his award for best directing. “In a time in which our world can feel very divided, this is more important than ever, It’s a communal experience you simply don’t get at home.”
He loves and understands the power of movie theatres and physical media, he fights for this two things to continue to exist, to be available and inspire whomever comes in contact with.
I know these shows are a lot about celebrities, the popular context and also the money, but once in a while someone that is truly deserving of the attention, gets their shot at stardom and it’s just joyous to witness.
Some other quick points:
I don’t know what Luca Guadagnino and Denis Villeneuve did to the Academy, but for them to be snubbed again while delivering masterpiece after masterpiece, is just baffling.
Dune: Part Two, still took 2 statues home which made me quite happy, the craft, love and literal magic in the film, brought tears to my eyes as I watched unfold on the cinema screen.
CHALLENGERS WASN’T EVEN NOMINATED. (how come, chief willoughby?)
Me everyday - (Photo Credit: The Film Memes) Trent Raznor and Atticus Ross also being out, while they gave us score GOLD! (I am not prepared to face this)
No Other Land won, and it was the most powerful speech of the night. While accepting the award the filmmakers urged for unity in this time: “We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together our voices are stronger,”
Colman Domingo gave a stellar performance in Sing Sing, and I would have loved to see him be recognised.
We should all bid farewell to James Bond as we know, a literal Bond villain just assume the rains of the franchise, and the only good thing the 007 homage did, was spare us from watching any Emilia Pérez musical number live. (the songwriters did try thought)
I’m just happy I won’t have to talk about Emilia Pérez ever again.
Themes of the slide party:
The Oscars;
Amazonian Archaeology;
What They Don’t Tell You Before Becoming and Adult;
Björk;
5 Minutes, 5 Books and 5 Women;
Unraveling the Mysteries of Collective Consciousness;
Lebensborn Program (It was decoy, the slide was actually about ABBA, my friend is obsessed with them).
Very nice piece about the Oscar’s!
And very happy for Brazilian cinema - it was much deserved.
Hopefully Fernanda Torres will have her own award one day.
I understand this piece focuses more on “I’m still here”, as per the title but I would also like to add a mention about Flow here! This is also a movie that stood up this year, in my opinion, as part of indie movies/low budget movies taking a bigger part in the received awards!