The Secret Agent emerges as Brazil’s leading name in the 2026 Oscar race. Starring Wagner Moura, the film made the Academy’s 15th list of best international films and is also on the shortlist in the unprecedented casting direction category, increasing the film’s visibility and momentum in awards season.
Directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, the film is set in Recife in the 1970s and follows Marcelo, a teacher who arrives in the city during carnival in search of anonymity and personal reconstruction. The attempt to start again comes up against the institutional violence of the military dictatorship, in a context marked by surveillance, political persecution and social instability.
The cast also brings together names such as Alice Carvalho, Gabriel Leone, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Hermila Guedes and Udo Kier, which reinforced the international reach of the production.
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For Fabiana Lima, a film critic and Golden Globes voter, the film’s main difference is its history of recognition outside Brazil. “It is the most awarded film at the Cannes Film Festival. It won the prize for best actor and best director, as well as the international critics prize and the French independent cinema prize,” he explains. According to her, the number and weight of the awards place the film in a privileged position in the competition.
Fabiana underlines that Cannes today occupies a central role in the dynamics of the Oscars. “It has become a big thermometer. Many films that enter the season are presented in preview there,” he says, citing the case of Anora, winner of the Palme d’Or and, later, the Oscar for best film.
For critics, this story consolidates The Secret Agent as a title that does not enter the race by chance, but has already been validated by one of the most influential showcases in world cinema.
Even if it does not follow a classic structure, according to Fabiana, the film finds clear points of contact with the profile of the Academy. “Kleber Mendonça Filho built an international brand. He mastered the codes of cinema and transformed the story into something that I described as a ‘feverish nightmare'”, emphasizing that the director bets on an auteur language without straying from the recognizable references of American cinema.
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Wagner Moura and Tânia Maria in The Secret Agent
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Wagner Moura and Kleber Mendonça behind the scenes of The Secret Agent
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Kleber Mendonça Filho and Wagner Moura recording The Secret Agent
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Wagner Moura in The Secret Agent
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Wagner Moura in a scene from the film The Secret Agent, by Kleber Mendonça Filho
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Sebastiana, from The Secret Agent
Photo: Reproduction/The Secret Agent
These references appear explicitly. “There are echoes of Scorsese, De Palma and even more graphic violence that comes close to Tarantino. These codes are easily recognized by the American industry,” he says.
“I see real chances of nomination in other categories, such as best actor and even best film. The box office is growing in the United States and releases continue to develop,” he says.
According to journalist, screenwriter and critic Isabella Faria, the film’s aesthetic consistency sets it apart from its competitors: “It tells the story through colors, visual composition and artistic direction. This creates greater immersion than productions that choose more minimalist routes.”
The nomination in the Cast Direction category strengthens this scenario and for Isabella, it is one of the highlights of the film. “This is the first year of the category and there is a clear interest in diversity. The cast of The Secret Agent has chemistry and performances that are at the heart of the film’s impact,” he analyzes.
Comparing the work with I’m Still Here, which won the Academy Award for Best International Film at this year’s Academy Awards, Isabella identifies a fundamental difference in approach: “I’m Still Here addresses the theme of memory through the micro-universe of family. So we begin to get an idea of what the military dictatorship of a father torn from his family, his wife and his children is like. in a more political way and using suspense.
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