This Brazilian Cult Classic Keeps Predicting Who'll Win a Golden Globe

Published Oct 2, 2026, 5:12 AM EDT

Julio is a Senior Author for Collider. He studied History and International Relations at university, but found his calling in cultural journalism. When he isn't writing, Julio also teaches English at a nearby school. He has lived in São Paulo most of his life, where he covers CCXP and other big events. Having loved movies, music, and TV from an early age, he prides himself in knowing every minute detail about the things he loves. When he is older, he dreams of owning a movie theater in a small countryside town.

The 2027 awards season is still a few months away, but potential nominees are starting to become clearer. Most foreign countries are in the final stages of deciding which movies to nominate as contenders for the Oscars and Golden Globes, and Brazil, coming from two very successful years, has just picked Gugu's World. While it might not have the same buzz as I'm Still Here and The Secret Agent, it could still surprise everyone, thanks in part to a peculiar "prophecy" from 2007. Back then, a criminally underrated comedy inadvertently foretold Brazil's string of Oscar nominations and Golden Globe wins in a story about community, film-making, and the importance of basic sanitation. Yes, basic sanitation.

‘Basic Sanitation, The Movie’ Has Foreseen Brazil’s Golden Globe Winners for the Past Two Years

Image via Vitrine Filmes

Needless to say, Brazilian cinephiles have been eating very well for the past two years. I'm Still Here and The Secret Agent are both incredible movies, of course, but we wouldn't be cinephiles if we didn't know our references of previous success, too. When Fernanda Torres and Wagner Moura won their respective Golden Globes, everyone remembered that they had shared the screen, in 2007's Basic Sanitation, The Movie, playing a couple fighting to bring proper sewage treatment to their small town.

Torres and Moura's wins were (and still are) hugely celebrated in Brazil, but Brazilians have a peculiar sense of humor and always want more, so, when they won, the internet immediately made the connection and started speculating who in Basic Sanitation's cast could be the next contender for the 2027 awards season. The cast is stacked with Brazilian talent, including Lázaro Ramos, Camila Pitanga, and Bruno Garcia, so it wouldn't surprise anyone if our next actor to win an international award was among those names, too.

We just weren't expecting things to happen so quickly. At first, both Torres and Moura coming from Basic Sanitation felt like a coincidence, so Brazilians naturally joked about it. Now, though, Gugu's World gives a third Basic Sanitation cast member a shot at an Oscar or Golden Globe, as it features Lázaro Ramos in one of its lead roles. So, what started as a joke is now suddenly feeling like an unofficial "prophecy" for Brazilian cinema, because it's extremely rare for any foreign country to line up that many contenders in a row.

‘Basic Sanitation, The Movie’ Captured the Potential of a Whole Generation of Brazilian Actors Early On

Image via Vitrine Filmes

Back in 2007, no one imagined that Basic Sanitation, The Movie could feature two future Golden Globe winners (let alone three). It's widely known how difficult it is for any actor to achieve international stardom and run for awards, so that just isn't something filmmakers usually consider when developing a project. The thing about Basic Sanitation, though, is that it features a very young and talented cast; looking back, it isn't weird at all that it's still giving Brazilian cinema so much, even decades after its release.

The premise is as quirky as it is absurd, following the efforts of a tiny village in southern Brazil to pipeline a local brook that carries all the town's waste. The townspeople learn that there is no allocated budget for infrastructure projects in the government, but there is, however, funding for a short film as part of an effort to foster artistic projects. Naturally, our heroes claim this money, but with the intention of using it to finally fix their problem, and, then, make a ridiculously low-budget sci-fi short about the whole thing.

Of course, things turn out to be way more complex than the characters expected, making Basic Sanitation feel like a cross between Parks and Recreation and The Disaster Artist. There also wasn't much buzz when it came out, but, thanks to its now internationally-recognized star-studded cast, it's going through a renaissance of sorts. Filmmaker Jorge Furtado was also a household name by then (everyone remembers watching his short feature Isle of Flowers at school, for example), so all the hype really is overdue.

‘Gugu’s World’ Has a Much Steeper Climb to Award Season Than Its Predecessors

As fun as it is to imagine a Golden Globe "hat-trick," Brazilian cinephiles are also somewhat skeptical about the odds of Gugu's World actually scoring a nomination. It wasn’t featured in the Cannes or Venice festivals, for example, so it has a much steeper climb compared to I'm Still Here and The Secret Agent, which also had influential names like Walter Salles and Kleber Mendonça Filho as directors. Because of that, there's significantly less coverage and expectations around Gugu's World.

None of that means that the Brazilian Film Academy made the wrong choice, of course. Quite the contrary, as, this time, there wasn't a clear outlier that it would be crazy not to pick. Gugu's World is definitely worthy, then. It was featured in this year's Berlinale and provides a very sensitive portrayal of growing up queer in more distant regions of Brazil. That's exactly where Lázaro Ramos comes in, playing the title character's estranged father, a truck driver who struggles to understand and come to terms with his son's queer identity.

So, even if the "prophecy" of Basic Sanitation doesn’t come true, Gugu's World being selected and Lázaro Ramos' work are still testament to Brazil's success as a film-making country. Of course, it would be incredible to have three consecutive Oscar nominees and Golden Globe winners, but, unfortunately, that's just not how the awards season game works. But we can dream. Who knows? Maybe it all works out and Lázaro brings home our country's third Golden Globe. Even if it doesn't happen, though, we are still immensely proud.

Basic Sanitation, The Movie is available to watch on YouTube and Prime Video.

The Secret Agent

8 10