It took me a while to finally start writing this page. To be honest, watching the last OSCARs Awards left me some bittersweet emotions. But before taking the results review pathway, I’d kindly ask for permission to get a little more personal right now.

This is my first post on this blog. And I just think it’s the perfect timing for a good opening credits, isn’t it? Alright, let’s keep going, then.

STUDENTS CAFE – LATE NIGHT – VANCOUVER, 2019

There’s a bunch of film students gathering to watch the OSCARs Ceremony from a big screen. It’s also a pizza pajama party. So imagine how fun this is.

That’s our first break after our first term. It’s quite odd to notice the absence of my classmates there. In fact, the whole cafe was crowded of people from other programs, such as acting, writing and graphic animation. I remember to check on the brazilian students group chat to see if anyone was there, so I could at least have a familiar face. Which is ironic as that would be the first time I would actually meet them in person.

Naturally, the answer is yes. I was so relieved I could express myself in portuguese again and to finally make friends. That night, the brazilians introduced me to their pals from other nationalities. Soon I found myself easily included. I felt part of it.

Quick interruption: everybody knows how brazilians are obssessed about soccer, right? So, that was my Soccer World Cup.

Alright, let’s move on.

The 2020 OSCARs had so many big productions, we were all excited and cheering for our favourites to win. I remember my mom called from Brazil saying “Are you watching already? Your special Timothée is giving a speech”. Yes, this is the year of Little Women, the film who introduced me to Greta Gerwig, who has since become one of my great inspirations in the film industry. It’s all before pandemic and I was young and full of hope and dreams. By that time, we were just film students wearing pajamas and watching other people getting awards, but sooner or later it must be us. It seemed possible and we were all excited.

But the thing is, film industry is not only about winning. It’s not only about getting prizes, money or fame. The most important earning is the friends we make on the road. For me, there is nothing better than having fun with our beloved ones on a healthy film set. It’s almost like we are kids again just playing pretend with improvised scenarios and improvised wardrobe. Remember when you used to take your parents clothes or pushed the furniture to turn them into a cabin or something? That’s what I’m talking about. I feel exactly the same on a film set managed by friends.

I must say I had awful moments on toxic sets, of course. But the healthy ones taught me this lesson I’m bringing here. We have to have fun. Forget about competition, a film crew should also be a team. I risk to say that the whole industry should be a team. Our work career is based on short projects and we usually switch crews all the time. We should be celebrating each other successes and popping champagne at the afterparties.

With that being said, let’s get back to 2025.

THE WHOLE COUNTRY – LATE NIGHT – BRAZIL, 2025

It’s Carnaval, a free street party which paused the music concerts just to play the OSCARs streaming on a big screen at specific spots all over the country. People were getting crazy because it’s like a World Cup happening during Carnaval but it’s about cinema. Some were even dressed in theme, carrying statuettes or slates.

Carnaval is not actually my thing, but the whole situation is a bit funny to me. It’s the definition of Brazil.

I personally spent the night on pajamas once again, but with my family. The brazilian nominations were at the bottom of the list, so it took long to be announced. The wait for the results seemed endless. Some of the speeches took more than necessary too. Meanwhile, my thoughts flew back to that 2020 Vancouver Students party. I wondered how fun would it be to see Brazil getting its first OSCARs around those people at that same place again.

The foreigners may not understand, but this award represent a lot more than a statuette in gold. Brazil should be widely seen as much more than it’s been on the past of decades. We have cinema here. We tell stories. We have great actors, great film directors, great writers.

I’m Still Here has a delicate touch from people who are personally involved on the story that was represented. A drama biopic must have emotional work from what is being told. Otherwise, it turns into a pretentious documentary and looses the real truth and power to thrill the audience. And this film stands out precisely because of this. It was based on the book written by Marcelo Paiva, one of the kids of Rubens Paiva, and directed by Walter Salles, a friend of the kids, who visited that family house a couple of times.

The last, but not least, reason for us Brazilians were crazy about this award take us back to OSCARs 1999. We had Central Station nominated as best international picture and best actress. Same director, almost the same actress. In Central Station, the nominated actress was Fernanda Montenegro, who happens to be Fernanda Torres mom, and also made a cameo on I’m Still Here.

To be honest, I think most of people agreed with the choice of Life is Beautiful for best international picture in 1999; the unfair feeling came on the actress category, given to Shakespeare in Love.

Unfortunately, we didn’t win any award that year, leaving everyone resentful for more than a decade. Now, we had the chance of getting that back, and we did, but not in the category we were all cheering for. But, anyhow, the feeling is that we are taking back what belonged to us. Some also refer this event to the famous “Soccer Cup Heist” case, that actually happened not once but twice in the History of Brazil and also turned into a good plot for a film in 2016 (English title: Jules and Dolores).

Wow. I think I wrote too much, just like Adrien Brody on that 5 – almost 6 – minute speech. Sorry about that. I guess I must share my other opinions about 2025 OSCARs in the following posts, with more details.

For now, that’s a wrap, everyone!

PS: Stay with a picture of my first set dec as Production Designer, which also has a Pikachu in it. (Brazilians will understand the joke).