The True Story Behind I’m Still Here, the Oscar Contender Pushing Brazil to Confront Its Dark Past

When the celebrated Brazilian author Marcelo Paiva started writing his 2015 memoir Ainda Eustou Aqui (I’m Still Here), he wanted to record his family history as his mother, Eunice Paiva, started losing her memory. Eunice was in her eighties and had been living with Alzheimer’s for over a decade—causing her to forget her past as an influential human rights lawyer and activist in Brazil. Much of her work had been devoted to indigenous rights, but her lifelong pursuit of justice was personal: her former husband and Marcelo’s father...