GUIDES · BRAZIL
Key Facts
- —Context Brazil is the largest Portuguese-speaking country in the world. Its culture is known abroad for samba, bossa nova, cinema, football and food.
- —Film I’m Still Here won Brazil’s first Oscar, for Best International Feature, on 2 March 2025. The Secret Agent earned four nominations at the 2026 Oscars but won none.
- —Music Caetano Veloso and Maria Bethânia won the Grammy for Best Global Music Album on 1 February 2026. Gilberto Gil’s farewell tour, Tempo Rei, was set to close on 28 March 2026.
- —Sport Brazil lost 2–1 to Norway in the 2026 World Cup round of 16, in New Jersey on 5 July 2026. Carlo Ancelotti remains head coach as of October 2026.
- —In the US Marta captains the Orlando Pride under a contract through the 2026 NWSL season. Wagner Moura is best known in the US for Netflix’s Narcos.
- —Next dates The 50th São Paulo International Film Festival runs 15–29 October 2026. Brazil’s Oscar entry Feito Pipa opens in Brazilian cinemas on 5 November 2026.
Brazil culture in 2026 is defined by a small group of living artists, athletes and chefs with global reach. Two Brazilian films have competed for the top Oscars since 2025, and a Brazilian album won a 2026 Grammy. For a US reader, these are the names behind the films, records, matches and restaurants that keep turning up in American feeds.
This guide is a who’s who, not a history lesson. Every figure below was active as of October 2026, and every award is dated. For the country’s politics and economy, start at the Rio Times Brazil hub.
Film: The Generation That Took Brazil to the Oscars
Walter Salles directed I’m Still Here, about the family of Rubens Paiva, a former congressman who disappeared under the military dictatorship. It won Best International Feature on Sunday 2 March 2025, the first Oscar for a Brazilian production.
The same film was the first Brazilian production nominated for Best Picture. Its star, Fernanda Torres, was nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars. In January 2025 she became the first Brazilian to win the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama.
Kleber Mendonça Filho, a director from Recife, followed with The Secret Agent, a thriller set in 1977 under the dictatorship. At Cannes on 24 May 2025 it won Best Director for him and Best Actor for Wagner Moura. Moura was the first Brazilian performer to win that Cannes prize.
Moura is the Brazilian actor most Americans know, as Pablo Escobar in Netflix’s Narcos and from the 2024 film Civil War. On 11 January 2026 he won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama. The Secret Agent also won the Globe for Best Non-English Language Film.
At the 98th Oscars on Sunday 15 March 2026, The Secret Agent had four nominations. They were Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Casting and Best International Feature, and it won none. Moura lost Best Actor to Michael B. Jordan for Sinners, and the film was released in North America by Neon.
The next name to watch is Allan Deberton. On 16 September 2026 the Brazilian Academy of Cinema chose his Feito Pipa as Brazil’s entry for the 2027 Oscars. The film, starring Lázaro Ramos, won the Crystal Bear in the Generation Kplus section at the Berlin festival.
Music: Tropicália Elders and a Global Pop Star
Caetano Veloso and Maria Bethânia
Caetano Veloso, a founder of the 1960s Tropicália movement, and his sister Maria Bethânia remain the most respected voices in Brazilian song. Their live album Caetano e Bethânia Ao Vivo was recorded on a 2024–2025 tour of Brazil. It won the Grammy for Best Global Music Album on 1 February 2026.
It was Caetano’s third Grammy and Bethânia’s first. Neither attended the ceremony in Los Angeles, and Dee Dee Bridgewater accepted on their behalf. They were the only Brazilians nominated at that year’s Grammys.
Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Gil, Caetano’s Tropicália partner, is a former culture minister and a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters. He also holds an honorary doctorate from the Boston-based Berklee College of Music, awarded through its campus in Valencia, Spain. His farewell tour, Tempo Rei, opened in Salvador on 15 March 2025.
By November 2025, organisers said, more than 620,000 people had seen the tour. The last show was announced for 28 March 2026 at the Allianz Parque stadium in São Paulo. Gil has said he wants to keep making music at a slower pace.
Anitta
Anitta is Brazil’s biggest pop export to the United States. She was nominated for Best New Artist at the 2023 Grammys and for Best Latin Pop Album, for Funk Generation, in 2025. In 2022 she won Best Latin at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Sport: The Athletes Americans Already Know
Marta is the best-known Brazilian athlete living in the United States. She captained the Orlando Pride to the 2024 NWSL Shield and the 2024 NWSL Championship. In January 2025 she signed a two-year deal that runs through the 2026 season.
She is a three-time Olympic silver medallist with Brazil. FIFA now names a prize after her, the Marta Award for the best goal in women’s football. She won its first edition herself, in 2024.
Vinícius Júnior of Real Madrid is the national team’s best-known forward. He was named The Best FIFA Men’s Player at a ceremony in Doha on 17 December 2024. He started both September 2026 friendlies against Australia.
The 2026 World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, ended badly for Brazil. The team lost 2–1 to Norway in the round of 16 in New Jersey on Sunday 5 July 2026. Erling Haaland scored twice, and Neymar scored a late penalty.
It was Brazil’s earliest World Cup exit since 1990. Carlo Ancelotti, the Italian coach who took over in May 2025, stayed on. On 9 September 2026 he named a younger 26-man squad with eight newcomers.
Rebeca Andrade is Brazil’s most decorated Olympian. Her floor gold at Paris 2024, on 5 August, came ahead of Simone Biles and gave her a sixth Olympic medal. Americans Biles and Jordan Chiles bowed to her on the podium.
Writers and Thinkers Worth Reading in English
Itamar Vieira Junior, born in Salvador in 1979, wrote the bestselling novel Torto Arado. It appeared in English as Crooked Plow, translated by Johnny Lorenz and published by Verso on 3 October 2023. It was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024.
The novel follows two sisters in rural Bahia, three generations after the end of slavery. Vieira Junior drew on 15 years at INCRA, the federal agency for land reform. It is the obvious entry point for a US reader.
Ailton Krenak, an Indigenous thinker and campaigner born in 1953, was elected to the Brazilian Academy of Letters on 5 October 2023. He is its first Indigenous member and took up chair number 5 on 5 April 2024. His books available in English include Ideas to Postpone the End of the World.
Art and Food: Curators and Chefs Setting the Agenda
Adriano Pedrosa, then artistic director of the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), curated the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024. Titled Foreigners Everywhere, it ran from 20 April to 24 November 2024. He was the first Latin American to curate the exhibition.
The 36th Bienal de São Paulo, under chief curator Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, took its title from a Conceição Evaristo poem. In 2026 it travels to 15 cities, three of them abroad. Its Belo Horizonte stop runs from 3 October to 6 December 2026, with free entry.
In food, São Paulo leads. At the Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants awards on 2 December 2025, Ivan Ralston’s Tuju ranked eighth, the best in Brazil. Tássia Magalhães of Nelita, ranked 12th, was named the region’s best female chef.
Rio de Janeiro’s Lasai, run by Rafa Costa e Silva, came 13th, and Alberto Landgraf’s seafood-led Oteque came 38th. Alex Atala, whose D.O.M. in São Paulo built its menu around Amazon ingredients, remains on the extended list at 74th. Helena Rizzo’s Maní placed 67th.
Festivals and Institutions on the Calendar
Carnival is the anchor of the year. It runs in the days before Ash Wednesday, which falls on 10 February in 2027. The samba school parades in Rio’s Sambódromo are the best-known event, judged as a competition between the city’s top schools.
The Festival do Rio is the main film festival in Rio de Janeiro. Its organisers say the 2025 edition drew 124,000 cinema-goers. The 50th São Paulo International Film Festival runs from 15 to 29 October 2026, with 380 titles from 93 countries.
Flip, the annual literary festival in the colonial town of Paraty, brings Brazilian and international authors together each year. The Theatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, opened on 14 July 1909, remains Rio’s main stage for opera and ballet.
What It Means for US Readers
For film fans, Brazilian cinema now reaches US screens through studios and distributors such as Neon and through streaming. The Secret Agent opened in North America in November 2025. Feito Pipa’s Oscar campaign will run until the ceremony on 14 March 2027.
For travellers, the cultural calendar is the main reason to time a trip. October brings the São Paulo film festival, and February 2027 brings Carnival. Mostra passes and ticket packages go on sale from Saturday 10 October 2026.
For football and sport fans, Brazil’s stars are close to home. Marta plays in Orlando, and Vinícius Júnior and the national team travel widely for friendlies. For investors and expats, culture is soft power: Brazilian films, music and chefs shape how the country is seen abroad.
Connected Coverage
Oscars 2026: Brazil’s Historic Run Ends Without a Win
Grande Otelo: O Agente Secreto Leads Brazil’s Top Film Prize
Caetano Veloso and Maria Bethânia Headline Rio’s Doce Maravilha
Flip 2026 Program: Exile, Zadie Smith and a Supreme Court Justice
What Is Not Known
It is not known whether Feito Pipa will make the Academy’s shortlist or the final five for Best International Feature. Brazil has had nominees in this category in each of the last two years, which does not guarantee a third.
Marta’s contract with the Orlando Pride runs through the 2026 season, and she has not announced what comes after it. It is also unclear how many of the World Cup veterans, including Neymar, will be called up again during Ancelotti’s rebuild.
Gilberto Gil has retired from large tours, but he has not ruled out smaller shows or recordings. The full line-ups for Carnival 2027 and the next Venice and São Paulo biennials have not yet been fully set.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are the most important figures in Brazil culture in 2026?
In film, Walter Salles, Fernanda Torres, Kleber Mendonça Filho and Wagner Moura. In music, Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethânia, Gilberto Gil and Anitta. In sport, Marta, Vinícius Júnior and Rebeca Andrade.
Has Brazil ever won an Oscar?
Yes. Walter Salles’s I’m Still Here won Best International Feature on 2 March 2025, the first Oscar for a Brazilian production. In 2026 The Secret Agent earned four nominations but won none.
Which Brazilian musicians have won a Grammy recently?
Caetano Veloso and Maria Bethânia won Best Global Music Album on 1 February 2026 for Caetano e Bethânia Ao Vivo. It was Caetano’s third Grammy and Bethânia’s first.
Which Brazilian athletes play in the United States?
Marta captains the Orlando Pride in the NWSL under a contract through the 2026 season. She led the club to the 2024 NWSL Shield and Championship.
How did Brazil do at the 2026 World Cup?
Brazil lost 2–1 to Norway in the round of 16 in New Jersey on 5 July 2026, its earliest exit since 1990. Carlo Ancelotti stayed on as head coach.
What Brazilian novel should a US reader start with?
Crooked Plow by Itamar Vieira Junior, translated by Johnny Lorenz and published by Verso in 2023. It was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024.
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This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief