{"id":309990,"date":"2026-03-02T22:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T22:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/309990\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T22:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T22:36:08","slug":"secret-agent-and-the-brazilian-cinema-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/309990\/","title":{"rendered":"Secret Agent and the Brazilian Cinema Revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWhen Silvia Cruz, who founded and runs the Brazilian distribution company Vitrine Filmes, started pitching a local new movie called The Secret Agent<\/a> to exhibitors, she met a ton of skepticism. \u201cThey said, \u2018Whoa, Silvia, are you sure you\u2019re going to go for it?\u2019\u201d Cruz recalls. The film may have starred one of the country\u2019s biggest stars (Wagner Moura<\/a>) and hailed from a proven director (Kleber Mendon\u00e7a Filho<\/a>), but the nonlinear narrative and 161-minute runtime sounded, to many, like a recipe for commercial failure. Cruz believed in the movie. But she knew these theater-owners to often be right about what would draw a crowd. \u201cI had to prove that the audience was ready,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tShe did just that. Mounted on a budget of approximately $5 million, The Secret Agent has sold more than 2.45 million admissions nationally \u2014 theatrical numbers are not reported by gross in Brazil<\/a>, but if translated to standard American ticket prices, that would equal over $40 million \u2014 and remained in the top five of the country\u2019s box-office through 16 weeks of release. It premiered to a prize-winning launch at the Cannes Film Festival before going on to receive four Oscar nominations, becoming the second consecutive Brazilian film to be nominated for both best picture and best international film. Its predecessor in that regard, I\u2019m Still Here, similarly emerged as a commercial phenomenon back home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tWagner Moura in Kleber Mendon\u00e7a Filho\u2019s The Secret Agent.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVictor Juca\/Neon<\/p>\n

\n\tThese movies vary wildly in tone and style, but both urgently and movingly revisit the height of the Brazilian military dictatorship during the 1970s \u2014 crucial context, since both also emerged from a more recent repressive moment in Brazilian life, the reign of Jair Bolsonaro from 2019-2022. \u201cThis film could have never been shot during those four years,\u201d Walter Salles<\/a>, the director of I\u2019m Still Here, told me last year. Censorship practices were strong and consistent. Then came the election of progressive Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva, who\u2019d previously served as president two decades earlier, and who\u2019s worked to reinstate major cultural infrastructure. If the prospects for Brazilian films tend to be tied to their political moment, the industry is now in a state of rebuilding and transition. The buoying provided by two seismically successful, fiercely independent dramas cannot be understated.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe market for something we\u2019d built over 20 years was shut down in four [years] \u2014 and we are recovering,\u201d says Rodrigo Teixeira, the Oscar-nominated Brazilian producer of I\u2019m Still Here who works all over the world. \u201cBut what we\u2019ve done in the first three years of this new government is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tA vibrant cinema culture is, in a sense, intrinsic to Brazil. \u201cIt\u2019s a constitutional right,\u201d Secret Agent star Moura says. \u201cIn the Brazilian Constitution, it\u2019s written that the government has to provide culture to the people.\u201d His Secret Agent director, Mendon\u00e7a Filho, adds where things stand currently: \u201cWe\u2019re back at this place where we should never have left: Getting public funds for artistic expression and for the distribution of works of art made by Brazilian artists.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMoura heard stories growing up of two movie theaters in town squares all over Brazilian cities, big and small, back in the \u201850s and \u201860s. \u201cGoing to the movies were part of the daily lives of people,\u201d he says. Adolpho Veloso, the Oscar-nominated cinematographer of Train Dreams who was born in S\u00e3o Paulo, adds, \u201cMovies were a huge part of how I grew up.\u201d He didn\u2019t come from a family of artists, but at around 13, was inspired to pursue filmmaking as a career after the massive success of Fernando Meirelles\u2019s City of God (2002), which received four Oscar nominations. \u201cTo see Brazilians and people like me occupying spaces that I didn\u2019t think was necessarily possible made me believe that was possible,\u201d he says. Veloso has already witnessed several waves of censorship, but those breakouts kept hope alive: \u201cWe\u2019ve had governments just intervene and stop all the funding and all the incentives\u2026. It\u2019s amazing to see how Brazilian cinema survives despite all the curveballs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCommercially, though, the volatility made its impact \u2014 no doubt worsened by global disruptions like the rise of streaming and the pandemic. \u201cIf you made a good film, a prestigious film, it would never be popular \u2014 and if you made a popular film, it would most likely be a television-like comedy. I just could not understand how we ended up in that situation,\u201d Mendon\u00e7a Filho says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tFernanda Torres after winning the Golden Globe for I\u2019m Still Here<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRobyn Beck \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tCruz argues that distribution of Brazilian cinema has proven especially challenging as many exhibitors became increasingly focused on American films and broad comedies. \u201cThere is this intermediary, the movie theater \u2014 they have to believe to put on your film,\u201d she says. Adds Teixeira: \u201cThe problem with Brazilian cinema for years is that Brazilian cinema is like a genre \u2014 in Brazil, we have horror, we have action and we have Brazilian cinema.\u201d Local films have been treated as a niche \u2014 which becomes a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy as fewer and fewer secure wide releases.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHere\u2019s where things are changing \u2014 and fast: For the last two years, the share of Brazilian films at the Brazilian box office has been more than triple what it was in 2023. (\u201cIt\u2019s still very far from where we should be,\u201d Mendon\u00e7a Filho cautions.) The Secret Agent and I\u2019m Still Here are not the sole success stories, but they are the most visible. This year\u2019s Oscar nominations, for instance, pushed Secret Agent from No. 9 to No. 3 in Brazil in a single week, to say nothing of the ecstatic Carnival homages to the film that took place all over the country some weeks later.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis is something bigger than just box office,\u201d Cruz says. Not that the box office isn\u2019t a huge factor: Salles and Moura are major advocates of extensive theatrical windows, and stayed off digital for their first several months on the big screen. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing this incredibly old fashioned theatrical success story,\u201d Mendon\u00e7a Filho says.<\/p>\n

\n\tMoura has noticed this all triggering backlash. \u201cOn the far right, man, they\u2019re very, very efficient in demonizing artists in Brazil,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you go to social media, you\u2019re going to see lots of YouTubers, whatever you call these people, saying that Kleber and I are part of this group of artists taking advantage of public funding to get money for ourselves, which is so absurd. It really breaks my heart to see these narratives taking off. People really buy that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThen there\u2019s the other side: The passion coming out of Brazil has not only become the stuff of legend for Oscar-campaign watchers here in the U.S., but a source of vital fuel for an artist like Moura, who hadn\u2019t acted in a Brazilian film in over a decade before The Secret Agent came his way. \u201cBrazilians seeing themselves like this creates identity, this creates self-esteem, this creates a sense of understanding of what kind of people we are,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I see Brazilians showing pride, dressing up like Dona Sebastiana in the film in the pure Brazilian Carnival fashion, I think it\u2019s just fucking beautiful. It makes me go, \u2018Okay, fuck it. I\u2019ll keep fighting for this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tMoura\u2019s break from acting in his native tongue could be attributed to many factors, from politics to his own career boom in the U.S. As for now? \u201cI want to work in Brazil at least once a year,\u201d he says. In April, he\u2019ll shoot a remake of Abbas Kiarostami\u2019s Taste of Cherry in Brazil, and he\u2019s developing a new project with his Lower City director S\u00e9rgio Machado. \u201cThe thing I wish I had more access to is the new filmmakers,\u201d Moura adds. \u201cI know they\u2019re there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tLast month, Moura presented the Spirit Award for best cinematography to Veloso (and later hosted a reception for Train Dreams), both expressing ebullience as they navigate awards season together. \u201cIt is amazing to be with other Brazilians, and to receive an award from Wagner Moura himself, who is an idol, a hero, a person I admire so much \u2014 all those things are quite surreal and amazing,\u201d Veloso says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tWagner Moura presenting the best cinematography Spirit Award to Train Dreams DP Adolpho Veloso<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKevin Winter\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tThese pillars of Brazilian film are operating on a global scale \u2014 Teixeira estimates more than two thirds of his producing work now happens internationally, while Velosa has seen his career flourish away from home. But all express a shared excitement at the possibilities in Brazil, with a reengaged audience and a rising crop of filmmakers like Pedro Freire and Carolina Markowicz. \u201cNow people are looking at Brazil differently: What\u2019s happening there? Who is the next Kleber? Who is the next Walter?\u201d Teixeira says. \u201cI think we have a new wave.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe common fear is that another political shift will roll back these rapid, major gains. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to keep existing, we\u2019ve got to keep producing good movies, we\u2019ve got to produce everything,\u201d says The Secret Agent\u2019s Oscar-nominated casting director, Gabriel Domingues. Teixeira is more blunt: \u201cWe depend on tax incentives. Don\u2019t kill that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd of course, movies like I\u2019m Still Here and The Secret Agent are making money \u2014 proving to skittish theater owners that there\u2019s a genuine market for challenging, provocative art films. Cruz sees that impact on the ground: \u201cPeople are talking about Brazilian films and they want to see Brazilian films. They want to go to pay for a ticket to see a Brazilian film! Investors are looking at all of this. This is going to change lots of things.\u201d She\u2019s even noticing more trailers for Brazilian films now playing in these same theaters.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHopefully everything that is happening now \u2014 with international recognition \u2014 turns the eyes to Brazil in a way to bring more investment,\u201d Veloso adds. \u201cWe can reduce a lot of prejudice that exists inside Brazil itself, to inform people more on how important it is to produce culture and produce art \u2014 and how helpful that is to the image of a country, how much investment that can bring in all possible ways.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tAs for the image part, Veloso knows first hand how much of an impact visibility can have: \u201cHopefully what happened last year with I\u2019m Still Here, and what\u2019s happening this year with Secret Agent and so many other Brazilian films, can be similar to how, one day, City of God was important to me as an inspiration,\u201d he says. \u201cI saw, \u2018Okay, if Brazilians and people like me are occupying those spaces, maybe I can too.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Silvia Cruz, who founded and runs the Brazilian distribution company Vitrine Filmes, started pitching a local new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[575,430,156,168930,168931,111,139,69,42421,42422,168932],"class_list":["post-309990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-brazil","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-im-still-here","tag-kleber-mendonu00e7a-filho","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-the-secret-agent","tag-wagner-moura","tag-walter-salles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}