By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “I’m Still Here,” a Brazilian film about a family torn apart by the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil for more than two decades, won the Oscar on Sunday for best international film.

The Walter Salles film stars Fernanda Torres as Eunice Paiva, the wife of Rubens Paiva, a former leftist Brazilian congressman who, at the height of the country’s military dictatorship in 1971, was taken from his family’s Rio de Janeiro home and never returned.

The focus of “I’m Still Here,” based on the memoir by Paiva’s son Marcelo, is Eunice, the mother of five left to remake their family’s life with neither her husband nor any answers for his disappearance. It unfolds as a portrait of a different kind of political resistance — one of steadfast endurance.

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Eunice refuses the military dictatorship’s attempt to break her and her family. When, in one scene, Eunice and her children — by then long without their disappeared father — pose for a newspaper photograph, she tells them to smile.

“The smile is a kind of resistance,” Torres told The Associated Press. “It’s not that they’re living happily. It’s a tragedy. Marcelo recently said something that Eunice said that I had never heard: ‘We are not a victim. The victim is the country.’”

“I’m Still Here” is a deeply Brazilian story, made by one of the country’s most acclaimed directors (Salles’ films include “Central Station” and “Motorcycle Diaries”) and starring the daughter of one of the country’s greatest stars, Fernanda Montenegro. She appears late in the film as the older Eunice.

Also nominated for best international film were Denmark’s “The Girl with the Needle,” Germany’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” Latvia’s “Flow” and France’s “Emilia Pérez,” a onetime Oscars favorite marred by controversy.

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For more coverage of the Oscars, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards.

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “No Other Land,” the story of Palestinian activists fighting to protect their communities from demolition by the Israeli military, won the Oscar for best documentary on Sunday.

The collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers follows activist Basel Adra as he risks arrest to document the destruction of his hometown, which Israeli soldiers are tearing down to use as a military training zone, at the southern edge of the West Bank. Adra’s pleas fall on deaf ears until he befriends a Jewish Israeli journalist who helps him amplify his story.

“About two months ago, I became a father, and my hope to my daughter that she will not have to live the same life I’m living now, always fearing settlers, violence, home demolitions and forcible displacements,” said Adra.

“No Other Land” came into the night a top contender after a successful run on the film festival circuit. It did not, however, find a U.S. distributor after being picked up for distribution in 24 countries. For the Oscar, it beat out “Porcelain War,” “Sugarcane,” “Black Box Diaries” and “Soundtrack to a Coup d’État.”

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The documentary was filmed over four years between 2019 and 2023, wrapping production days before Hamas launched its deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that started the war in Gaza.

In the film, Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham embeds in a community fighting displacement, but he faces some pushback from Palestinians who point out his privileges as an Israeli citizen. Adra says he is unable to leave the West Bank and is treated like a criminal, while Abraham can come and go freely.

The film is heavily reliant on camcorder footage from Adra’s personal archive. He captures Israeli soldiers bulldozing the village school and filling water wells with cement to prevent people from rebuilding.

Residents of the small, rugged region of Masafer Yatta band together after Adra films an Israeli soldier shooting a local man who is protesting the demolition of his home. The man becomes paralyzed, and his mother struggles to take care of him while living in a cave.

By MARIA SHERMAN, Associated Press

French composer duo Clément Ducol and Camille took home the original song award at the Oscars on Sunday for their track, “El Mal.”

In January, “El Mal” also earned the pair a Golden Globe in the same category.

The musical “Emilia Pérez” is a lot of things — a musical, a transgender parable, endlessly controversial and frequently criticized for its depiction of Mexican culture.

“We are so grateful,” Camille said in her acceptance speech. “We wrote ‘El Mal’ as a song to denounce corruption.”

The award was presented by Mick Jagger. “I wasn’t the first choice,” he joked. “The producers really wanted Bob Dylan to do it.”

Ducol and Camille beat Diane Warren for “The Journey” from “The Six Triple Eight,” Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Brandi Carlile and Andrew Watt for “Never Too Late” from “Elton John: Never Too Late,” and Abraham Alexander, Brandon Marcel and Black Pumas’ Adrian Quesada for “Like A Bird” from “Sing Sing.”

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They also beat themselves: Their composition “Mi Camino” from “Emilia Pérez” was also up for the award.

The first-time Oscar nominees had a total of three nominations, including original score, at the 97th Academy Awards.

“You go from anxiety to relief, and you’re filled up with energy and you need that,” Camille told The Associated Press in January, when nominations were announced. “We’ve worked so much, and we’ve worked so much for the campaign … I feel very fulfilled and very happy for all the team.”

Camille said the film’s recognition “represents something very important.”

“It’s a very free, provocative and empathic, compassionate movie. And I really think this is what we need now.”

“It’s totally incredible. I was like, ‘What?’ It’s three nominations. It’s huge,” added Ducol. “We were involved at the beginning of the construction of the story in music … So everything is linked together, is woven together between the script, the screenplay, the songs. And so, we feel like it’s our story, our movie … It’s not just a musical or reflecting a story or reflecting action in the movie. The music and the songs, in this movie, is the script. It is the story.”

Julius Randle returned to the Timberwolves’ lineup on Sunday in Phoenix after missing Minnesota’s last month of action.

Randle suffered a groin strain at the end of January, and then ESPN insider Shams Charania reported the forward was away from the team for the last week “tending to a family matter.” The Wolves went 5-8 in his 13-game absence.

While drawing the ire of the local fan base for much of the season, Randle’s importance has been largely validated over the last month. There have been games in his absence — particularly against downtrodden teams like Washington and Utah — that Minnesota likely would have won with the additional production of a forward who consistently puts up 20 points and five-plus assists.

More of those contests are on the horizon with Minnesota’s schedule softening significantly in its upcoming stretch.

Plus, Minnesota was playing well when Randle went down with the injury. The game he exited against Utah marked Minnesota’s fifth straight victory. Randle and the Wolves had seemingly found a way to mesh his abilities with the rest of the roster. That often included Randle playing in lineups that included more reserves, which allowed him minutes to push the pace and serve as a focal point of the team’s attack.

Randle’s return is especially beneficial for Minnesota given the Wolves’ depleted front court. Rudy Gobert was out again Sunday. The center has yet to play a game post all-star break due to back spasms. The Wolves have been rolling out small-ball lineups featuring Naz Reid at the center position and Jaden McDaniels at power forward. While those combinations are intriguing, they haven’t proven fruitful to Minnesota’s overall record.

The duo of Randle and Reid still represents a small big-man combo, but combining those two with McDaniels at the small forward spot gives Minnesota some legitimate size up front. That was Minnesota’s starting front court on Sunday.

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The Wolves entered Sunday’s action in ninth-place in the Western Conference, and must turn the tide quickly if they’re to work their way into the top six of the standings by season’s end to avoid the play-in tournament.

Anthony Edwards also returned to action Sunday following his one-game suspension served for accruing 16 technical fouls over the weekend. Edwards was also fined $35,000 by the NBA for throwing the ball into the stands after he was ejected in Thursday’s loss to the Lakers.

With Donte DiVincenzo playing his third consecutive game Sunday, the Wolves are now nearing full health just in time to make a potential playoff push.