Brazil - The 2024 political biographical drama I’m Still Here (Portuguese: Ainda Estou Aqui), directed by Walter Salles, quickly established itself as a landmark achievement for Brazilian cinema as the first-ever Brazilian-produced film to win an Academy Award, capturing the Oscar for Best International Feature Film.
The success of the film was underpinned by its dedication to period-authentic, cinematic sound led by production sound mixer Laura Zimmermann, who earned the 2025 Brazilian Film Academy’s Grande Otelo Award (Best Sound) for her work on the film. Zimmermann relied on an extensive kit of Lectrosonics Wireless products, including SMQV, SSM, LMB and HMa transmitters, and DSR4, SRc, DCR822 and DSQD receivers to capture the project's uncommon audio requirements.
Production sound for I’m Still Here, which tells the story of Eunice Paiva coping with the disappearance of her dissident politician husband during the 1964 Brazilian military dictatorship, required a special process. “Walter (Salles), the director, cares very deeply about the authenticity of sound in his films, which made for a great collaborative experience,” shares Zimmerman. “The film's setting was from the 1970s through the present day, and he absolutely wanted the audio to match the time and have those vintage sonic textures. To achieve the acoustic environments Walter had in mind, I was given the opportunity to have full sets, solely dedicated to the capture of sound, without the camera rolling.”
“It was creatively so liberating," Zimmermann recalls. “We travelled to a remote island to record the sound of ocean waves lapping, without the noise pollution that had built up over the last 50 years in the region where the scene was set. The production team sourced vintage cars from the time, where all the motors were untouched, with all original parts, so the idling and accelerations of Eunice’s car would sound as close to the real experience of sitting in it.”
The location sound work was split between Rio and São Paulo, so Zimmermann needed wireless systems that could deliver consistency in Brazil’s notoriously “messy frequency spectrum,” Zimmerman says. "You have to care about frequency coordination when you work here in Brazil, but once I determined the best frequencies, Lectrosonics performed so consistently. We filmed in the house for six weeks and I never had to change frequencies. It was great."
“This was the biggest project I’ve ever worked on, so I needed rock-solid transmitters and receivers. That’s why I chose Lectrosonics,” says Zimmermann. “My kit for I’m Still Here included SMQV transmitters and SSM micro transmitters extensively for the cast, LMB transmitters for the cars and other objects, and HMA plug-on transmitters for directional and cardioid microphones and booms. We used DSR4, SRC, and DSQD receivers, and of course, DCR822 receivers which are my favourite.”