Walter Salles’ “I’m Still Here” (“Ainda Estou Aquí”) has been named winner of the FIPRESCI Grand Prix, awarded annually by the International Federation of Film Critics to the best film of the year.
The honor, voted on by 739 members of the International Federation of Film Critics from 75 countries, will be presented during the opening gala of the 73rd San Sebastian Film Festival on Sept. 19. Salles is expected to attend and the film will screen that evening, with a start time to be announced Sept. 8.
Other finalists for the prize included Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist”; Oliver Laxe’s “Sirāt,” ; Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “The Secret Agent,” and Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners.”
“I’m Still Here,” a Brazil-France co-production, premiered at Venice in 2024, where it won best screenplay. The film went on to secure the Oscar for best international feature and earned additional nominations for best picture and best actress (Fernanda Torres). It also took home the Goya Award for best Ibero-American film.
The film’s synopsis reads: “Brazil, 1971. A country in the tightening grip of a military dictatorship. A mother is forced to reinvent herself when her family’s life is shattered by an act of arbitrary violence.”
Salles made his San Sebastian debut in 1995 with “Foreign Land” in the Zabaltegi-New Directors section. “I’m Still Here” screened in the festival’s Perlak program last year after its Venice premiere. The film was produced by Videofilmes and RT Features in Brazil with France’s Mact Productions. Goodfellas is handling international sales, and Vértigo Films released it in Spain in February.
Since its creation in 1999, the FIPRESCI Grand Prix has gone to films by big-name filmmakers including Maren Ade, Pedro Almodóvar, Paul Thomas Anderson, Alfonso Cuarón, Jean-Luc Godard, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Michael Haneke, Aki Kaurismäki, Yorgos Lanthimos, Richard Linklater, Terrence Malick, George Miller, Jafar Panahi and Chloé Zhao.