At about midnight on March 3, the carnival celebrations in Rio, Salvador and Recife were suddenly interrupted when millions of revelers briefly halted their shimmying and singing to burst into a cry of victory. The Brazilian director Walter Salles' film, Ainda estou aqui (I'm Still Here) had just been awarded the Oscar for Best Foreign Film and the whole country was going wild. Strangers hugged each other and tears rained down amid clamorous outpourings. What better way to celebrate the first golden statuette in the history of Brazilian cinema?

To say Brazil had prepared for the event would be an understatement. Throughout the country, giant screens were set up to follow the ceremony live, even in the Amazonian village of Inhaa-bé, where an Indigenous ritual had been organized to support the film. In the streets, carnival-goers armed themselves with cardboard Oscars and images of the lead actor Fernanda Torres on masks and the yellow shirts of the national football team. Her portrait was painted on walls, her likeness appeared on giant dolls as well as decorating cakes and donuts.

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