Fernanda Montenegro

On the edge of a new century, something very special happened at the 56th Golden Globe Awards: for the first time ever, a Brazilian film won the then Best Foreign Language Film (now Non-English Language Film) prize: Central Station, directed by Walter Salles. Awards for movies from overseas countries were random at the Globes until 1974 when the international trophy was officially created.

“As long as I keep walking on my own, with a good memory and reasonably perfect hearing, I intend to continue working,” 90-year-old Fernanda Montenegro told the newspaper Estado de São Paulo in 2019 as she was doing press for her latest film, Karim Aïnouz’s Invisible Life, an adaptation of a novel that was nominated for Best International Film at the Spirit Awards the following year. The grande dame of Brazilian cinema, Montenegro had three films released that year as well as her memoir 'Prólogo, Ato, Epílogo: Memórias'.