The best international feature Academy Award for Walter Salles’ timely drama backdropped the annual celebrations and validated a political movement: “It’s hard to put into words just how big of a moment this is.

Brazilian movie "I'm Still Here", set against the backdrop of the military dictatorship and recounting the true story of a mother of five whose husband disappears, made history on Sunday by earning Brazil its first Oscar in a major category.

“I’m Still Here” won in a category that included France’s entry, the Spanish-language musical “Emilia Pérez,” which was once an Oscars front-runner; the Danish social drama “The Girl With the Needle”; the wordless Latvian animated film “Flow”; and “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” a film shot in secret in Iran and submitted by Germany.