The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão, by Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz, was selected by the Brazilian Film Academy over 11 other films to represent Brazil in the international feature film category for the 2020 Oscars.

The film, which won the Un Certain Regard award at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival is based on Martha Batalha’s beloved novel, The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão, about two sisters struggling to define themselves in the machista culture of Brazil in the 1950s.

The year is 1950. Classical piano prodigy Eurídice (Carol Duarte) dreams of studying at the Vienna Conservatory. Her sister, Guida (Julia Stockler), however, is the first of the siblings to make it to Europe, albeit fleetingly: after having eloped with a Greek sailor, Guida soon returns to Rio de Janeiro pregnant and alone, unbeknownst to Eurídice. Kept apart by a terrible lie, years pass as the two sisters forge their respective paths through their city’s teeming bustle, each believing the other to be half a world away. TIFF