Sitting at a beautiful rooftop overlooking the sprawling streets of Italy’s Taormina, Oscar-nominated Brazilian actor Fernanda Torres still can’t quite believe she has finally made it to Sicily. Torres, who is in town to receive the Taormina Film Festival Achievement Award, tells Variety that visiting the region has been a “longtime dream” of hers.
“I am so moved because my family descends from Italy,” she goes on, recalling how her mother, iconic Brazilian actor Fernanda Montenegro, won an award in the same town in 1978. “Since then, I have always wanted to visit. I have friends who have attended the theater festival, and it always felt like a dream. I had never been to Sicily, so receiving an homage here felt unthinkable.”
Almost two years since “I’m Still Here” had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, Torres is still reaping the rewards of her leading role in Walter Salles’s Oscar-winning drama, which is also being shown at the festival. “I owe a lot of this recognition to ‘I’m Still Here,’ where I play another woman of Italian descent, Eunice Paiva,” she notes.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about this,” Torres continues. “At a time when immigration is such a present issue in the world, both Eunice and I represent this immigration movement that has so deeply changed Brazil, and we are now both, in a way, being recognized here in Italy. I find this to be so beautiful.”
