From acclaimed Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho (Bacurau) comes The Secret Agent / O Agente Secreto, an audacious, genre-defying political thriller set in Recife during the height of Brazil’s military dictatorship, and Brazil’s official submission for the 98th Academy Awards for Best International Feature. The film currently sits at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and is Certified Fresh and is a Metacritic Must-See with a 87% overall rating.
Winner of Best Director, Best Actor, and the FIPRESCI International Critics Award for Best Film in Competition at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, The Secret Agent will be released by NEON on Wednesday, November 26 at Film at Lincoln Center and Angelika Film Center in New York City, and on Friday, December 5 at AMC Century City 16 in Los Angeles. The film will expand throughout December into the top markets and then nationally on January 9.
Set in 1977, a widower arrives in Recife, a city as vibrant as it is violent. A technology researcher, he suddenly becomes an unwitting target in the heart of the dictatorship’s political maelstrom. On the run from mercenary killers, haunted by ghosts of the past, and confronting the ruthless, mischievously militant spirit of the city, his primary goal is to escape Brazil with his young son. With the help of a mysterious woman and her compatriots in the growing underground resistance, he navigates a tense, unpredictable world of danger and deception.
Writer/Director Filho teams up with renowned actor Wagner Moura—delivering an extraordinary, career-defining performance—to craft a thrillingly unpredictable, shape-shifting epic. Steeped in history yet strikingly contemporary, the film pays affectionate tribute to the movies of Filho’s youth while immersing viewers in a story of political turmoil, suspense, and palpable danger.
