Monday Night Foreign Films - The Secret Agent

2025, Brazil 2h 38 minutes
Thriller | Rated R
In Portuguese with English subtitles

Official submission of Brazil for the 'Best International Feature Film' category of the 98th Academy Awards in 2026.
Amid the raucous revelry of Carnival week, a widower named Marcelo (Wagner Moura) arrives in 1977 in Recife, Brazil, a city as vibrant as it is violent. A technology researcher who suddenly finds himself anunwitting target in the heart of the dictatorship's political maelstrom, Marcelo is a man on the run from mercenary killers, from ghosts of the past and from the ruthless, mischievously militant spirit of
Brazil in 1977. In the midst of these mounting threats, Marcelo, with the help of a mysterious woman named Elza and her compatriots in the country's growing underground resistance, remains primarily focused on escaping Brazil with his young son. Master filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho teams up with renowned actor Wagner Moura - giving an extraordinary, career-defining performance - to craft a thrillingly unpredictable, playfully shape-shifting epic steeped in history even as it feels remarkably contemporary, paying affectionate tribute to the movies of Filho’s youth while unfolding against the backdrop of political turmoil and palpable danger.

*WINNER - BEST ACTOR - 2025 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL*
*WINNER - BEST DIRECTOR - 2025 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL*
*WINNER - FIRPRESCI PRIZE- 2025 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL*