Brazil has already won the Oscar, but did not bring the statuette home

In almost 100 years of existence of the Oscar, considered the most prestigious award in cinema, Brazil never brought home a statuette. In 1960, we came very close with Black Orpheus(1959), recorded in Brazil, in the middle of the Rio de Janeiro Carnival, and starring Breno Mello (1931-2008), Brazilian actor and football player, and Lea Garcia (1933-2023), which won the award for Best Foreign Film, but the “golden bald” ended up far away from here.

Adapted from the play Orfeu da Conceiçãoin Vinicius de Moraesand co-produced between Brazil, France and Italy, Black Orpheus tells the story of Orpheus (Breno Mello), a tram driver and samba singer from the hill, falls in love with Euridice (Marpessa Dawn), a young woman from the countryside, who goes to Rio de Janeiro to escape death (Adhemar Ferreira da Silva), represented by a man in costume who chases her. The love of Orpheus per Eurydicehowever, arouses the ire of Orpheus’ ex-fiancee, Aim (Lourdes de Oliveira), while death follows everything closely.

Despite the controversy over the exotic way in which the film portrayed Rio de Janeiro in the film, Black Orpheus It deals with themes related to Brazil, was filmed on Brazilian soil and also starred Brazilian artists. The film won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1959, and its worldwide success led to a nomination for the following year’s Oscar, in the category of Best Foreign Film.

However, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences classified the film as French only, due to the nationality of its director, Marcel Camus. With victory, Black Orpheus became the first Portuguese-language film to win the Oscar and, to this day, the only one in the Foreign/International category, but the statuette ended up going to France.

Currently, the Academy’s rules are different and, for a film to represent its country of origin, it is necessary that a large part of the work be spoken in its native language, which would enshrine Black Orpheus like a Brazilian film.

Although Brazil was not considered victorious, Black Orpheus had an important cultural impact, serving as a product of dissemination of Brazilian culture throughout the world. The American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat has already cited the film as one of his first inspirations and the former American president Barack Obama stated that the film was his mother’s favorite.

In 1962, Brazil was able to celebrate a victory that was truly its own: The Promise Payer (1962) won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. And, the following year, the film became the first from South America to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, but the winner was Always on Sundays (1962), competitor from… France.

Who wins Best Picture at the 2024 Oscars? Vote for your favorite!

• American Fiction
• Anatomy of a Fall
• Barbie
• The Rejected
• Flower Moon Assassins
• Conductor
• Oppenheimer
• Past lives
• Poor Creatures
• Zone of Interest