In February, the young audience of the Generation Kplus section at the Berlin Film Festival gave its Crystal Bear to a Brazilian film about a football-loving boy from the interior of Ceará who lives with his grandmother. Seven months later, Brazil has chosen that same story to chase a slot at the Oscars.
On Wednesday, the Brazilian Academy of Cinema announced that "Feito Pipa", directed by the Ceará-born Allan Deberton, will represent the country in the best international feature race at the 2027 Academy Awards, whose ceremony is set for March 14. Each country submits a single film to the category, and the title came out of a shortlist of six finalists.
The film and its awards
The movie follows Gugu (Yuri Gomes), a boy who lives with his grandmother Dilma (Teca Pereira). According to Folha de S.Paulo, the grandmother has Alzheimer's and the boy does everything to hide her condition, fearing he will be forced to live with his father (Lázaro Ramos), a homophobic man; O Globo describes the character as hard and conservative, unable to express his feelings. After its world premiere in Berlin, where it also took the section's Grand Jury Prize, the film collected four Kikito trophies at Brazil's Gramado Film Festival, including best film by the popular jury and best director. It reaches Brazilian theaters on November 5, O Globo reports.
The submission was picked by a commission appointed by the Brazilian Academy of Cinema and led by producer Clélia Bessa, who told O Globo:
"The film 'Feito Pipa' by Allan Deberton has a sensitive narrative that communicates universal and, at the same time, carries a strong Brazilian identity from a town in the interior of Ceará. It is about family, the complicity between grandmother and grandson, childhood and finitude, and it has already been honored at major international festivals."
The race and the competition
The other finalists were "Nosso Segredo" by Grace Passô, "Vicentina Pede Desculpas" by Gabriel Martins, "100 Dias" by Carlos Saldanha, "A Natureza das Coisas Invisíveis" by Rafaela Camelo and "A Fabulosa Máquina do Tempo" by Eliza Capai. "What emotion," Lázaro Ramos wrote on his Instagram Stories, according to O Globo. The actor attended the most recent ceremony, in March, alongside his friend Wagner Moura.
Brazil is chasing a return after appearing at the last two editions: "Ainda Estou Aqui" (I'm Still Here), by Walter Salles, won best international feature in 2025, and "O Agente Secreto" (The Secret Agent), by Kleber Mendonça Filho, earned four nominations in 2026. One more Brazilian film could still qualify: "Vicentina Pede Desculpas" is competing in the Platform section of the Toronto festival, whose winner will be announced on Sunday, and under new rules cited by O Globo, winners at Toronto, Cannes, Venice, Berlin and Sundance qualify automatically. From Berlin to Hollywood, the boy who won over the festival's youngest moviegoers keeps flying high, just like the kite of the Portuguese title.