The Brazilian drama I’m Still Here has won the Academy Award for best international feature, a first for the South American country.

The film is based on a true story set in 1970s Rio de Janeiro, when Brazil was living under a military dictatorship.

Actress Fernanda Torres was also nominated for an Oscar for her leading role as Eunice Paiva. Her husband, Rubens Paiva, had been a congressman before the U.S.-backed coup d’etat in 1964. After he was abducted by military operatives in 1971 and never returned, Paiva was left to care for their five children as she sought justice for her husband. As a lawyer and activist, she helped indigenous people in the Amazon too.

“This goes to a woman who, after a loss suffered during an authoritarian regime, decided not to bend and to resist,” director Walter Salles said while accepting the award on Sunday. “Her name is Eunice Paiva.”