Brazil has chosen Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent as its official entry for the Best International Feature category at the 2026 Academy Awards.
Starring Wagner Moura, known for his role in Narcos, the film is set in the 1970s and follows a technology expert who becomes entangled in Brazil’s military dictatorship. As a target of the regime, he returns to his hometown to find his young son and flee the country, pursued by hitmen hired by a corrupt federal official.
The Secret Agent had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where Moura was awarded the Best Actor prize. The film has garnered acclaim for its blend of surreal humor and a profound examination of Brazil’s historical trauma. David Rooney, chief film critic at The Hollywood Reporter, praised it as “both of a piece with and completely different from Walter Salles’ Oscar winner from last year, I’m Still Here.”
This is Mendonça Filho’s fourth feature film, following the critically lauded works Neighboring Sounds, Aquarius, and Bacarau. Rooney describes this latest offering as the director’s strongest yet, capable of elevating him among today’s top filmmakers on the global stage.
Neon secured the U.S. distribution rights for The Secret Agent directly from its Cannes debut. Brazil’s honor of winning the Oscar for Best International Feature with I’m Still Here marks a significant achievement, although the country has received nominations in this category six times overall, including notable films such as Keeper of Promises (1962), O Quatrilho (1995), and Four Days in September (1997).
The preliminary shortlist of 15 films will be revealed on December 16, 2025, leading up to the final nominations announced on January 22, 2026. The 98th Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled for March 15, 2026.
Based on reporting by Hollywood Reporter. Read the full story at Hollywood Reporter.