ISSUE III
FEBRUARY 2025
FEBRUARY 2025
Accidental Theorist: fernanda torres
What would Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres’s theory of international affairs look like?
By Ingrid Nielsen and Monise Valente da Silva
When Brazilian actor Fernanda Torres was announced the Golden Globe winner for Best Actress in Drama at the beginning of 2025, Brazilians reacted like they had won the World Cup. Despite it being the middle of the night—most of Brazil is five hours ahead of Los Angeles, where the Golden Globe ceremony took place—celebrations echoed throughout the country, taking over social media and sparking a wave of Brazilian pride and joy.
Famous in Brazil for a long career in film and sitcoms, Torres is the star of the internationally acclaimed Brazilian production “Ainda Estou Aqui” (I’m Still Here, 2024,) nominated for three categories in the 97th Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best International Feature, and Best Actress. While the movie made history by becoming the first Brazilian production included in the Best Picture category, Torres’s Golden Globe victory – an upset against household names such as Angelina Jolie and Kate Winslet – and a nomination in the Best Actress category at the Oscars turned her into an instant internet sensation. Significantly, Torres has used the media campaign for “I’m Still Here” to opine on legacies of colonialism, US cultural imperialism, and authoritarianism and the rise of right-wing rhetoric across the globe; the latter are key themes in the film set during Brazil’s dictatorship.
Fernanda Torres is the third in our series on accidental IR theorists. So, what would her theory of International Affairs look like?
Torres’s theory starts with a critique of the Global North’s lack of exposure to – let alone recognition of – the culture and exceptional work of filmmakers and performers from the Global South. Alluding to legacies of colonialism and cultural imperialism, in a recent interview, she pointed out the fact that Brazilians are very familiar with American and European cultures but that the opposite never happens. She often discusses the film and her own success as an opportunity for the world to know more about Brazilian culture and history, mentioning how rare it is for productions spoken in any language other than English to get the attention of global audiences and make their way to the Academy Awards.
However, Torres’s strongest political commentary relates to the political history depicted in “I’m Still Here.” The film tells the true story of Eunice Paiva (played by Torres) and her decades-long battle to find the truth behind the kidnapping and murder of her husband, Brazilian congressman Rubens Paiva, by the Brazilian military dictatorship in the 1970s. (The dictatorship lasted until 1985.) In an interview with Variety magazine, Torres pointed out that the dictatorship in Brazil was not an isolated case but one of the many authoritarian governments “sponsored by the US” in Latin America during the Cold War. As right-wing groups in Brazil actively called for the boycott of “I’m Still Here” in theaters and former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro was charged with plotting a coup to hold onto power after losing the 2022 elections, Torres promoted the movie and the history it unveils as a cautionary tale against the contemporary rise of right-wing politics and authoritarian sentiment across the globe. Those were “scary times,” “very much like the one we are living in now,” she would tell reporters, remarking that despite all its problems, democracy is still “the best [system of government] we have.”
It’s still uncertain whether Torres’s involvement in a couple of recent controversies, one related to the resurfacing of a 2008 video where she acts in blackface in a Brazilian comedy show – for which she issued an apology – and another involving one of her rivals for Best Actress, Karla Sofia Gascon, has impacted her and the chances of “I’m Still Here” to an Oscar.
Despite controversies, Brazilians will eagerly await the Oscars ceremony on March 2nd. The rightwing backlash in Brazil has not prevented Torres’ success from uniting the country. The Oscars may not be the World Cup, but this year feels just as exciting for many Brazilians.
Ingrid Nielsen is an ma candidate in international affairs and Monise Valente da Silval is a phd student in public and urban policy at the new school.