Getty Images On the 23rd January, Ainda Estou Aqui , (I’m Still Here) a feature film directed by Walter Salles that tells the story of the Paiva family during the military dictatorship in Brazil, was nominated for an Oscar in three categories: Best International Film, Best Actress, with the lead role, Fernanda Torres, and Best Film, an unprecedented nomination for Brazilian productions. In its 97th edition, the award is the most important in world cinema.
The nominations are an unprecedented feat for Brazilian cinema and the result of a long — and expensive — international campaign to attract the attention and captivate the more than 10,000 voting members of the Oscar Academy. “The film has a campaign budget that is on par with major North American candidates,” says Juliana Sakae, an expert in Oscar campaigns for independent films and co-founder of Muritiba Filmes.
The campaign
According to Michael Barker, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, the Brazilian film’s distributor, all Oscar campaigns have the same goal: to get the largest number of Academy voters to watch the film. To this end, numerous promotional activities are carried out (see table) in several countries, over a period that can last months. “I compare an Oscar campaign to a presidential campaign — it’s just as intense”, says Sakae.
Campaigns can cost as much as the productions themselves — sometimes even more. To give you an idea, an advertisement on the homepage of specialized websites, such as the digital magazine Deadline, costs $55,000 (around R$318,500). Advertising on ten episodes of a podcast from the group can cost $50,000 (R$289,600). To have an insert in The Envelope magazine, from the LA Times newspaper, you need to pay as from $67,500 (R$391,400). If you opt for a half-page insert, the price drops to $19,500 (R$113,000). These amounts are paid directly to the media outlets.
The Oscars allow weekly emails to be sent to film voters to convince them to watch the films. In the initial phase, in which the members of the academy vote in their respective categories (director votes for Best Director, actress for Best Actress, and so on) and for Best Picture, sending emails to one of the databases costs between 500 and 1,000 dollars (2,800 to 5,700 reais) per week. It is in the initial phase that the nominated films are chosen.
In the final phase, when more than 10,000 members vote in all categories, a single email costs, on average, 3,000 dollars (17,000 reais). In other words, if an email is sent to the entire base, the cost comes to 170 million reais.
The campaign budget must also include expenses for airfare, team travel, accommodation and food, totaling a few million reais.
Who pays the bill?
To raise funds, film production seeks partnerships with organizations such as consulates, regional film institutions and sponsors. However, it is the distributors who bear the majority of the costs. In the case of I’m Still Here, this role has been performed by Sony Pictures Classics since May 2024.
| What is part of a campaign to be nominated for an Oscar: – Hiring a public relations consultancy; – Interviews with directors and protagonists; – Participation in events; – Publications in the main press outlets; – World tour to promote the film; – Direct contact with voters; – Promotion of their own events. |
Sources: Academia Brasileira de Cinema and CNN.
