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The Secret Agent
November, 18 2025 | 7:00 PM | The Sebastiani Theatre
Official Oscar Submission to the Academy Awards, Best International Feature, Brazil
Triple Winner, Cannes Film Festival, Best Director, Best Actor & International Film Critics Prize (Fipresci)
The Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho (Bacurau) has crafted a thrillingly unpredictable and highly entertaining epic starring a magnetic Wagner Moura as a man on the run from his past.
A dynamic, shape-shifting epic set in Mendonça’s hometown of Recife during the late 1970s, The Secret Agent earned him the Best Director award at Cannes. Wagner Moura was also deservedly honored as Best Actor at the festival for his mesmerizing performance as a widowed former university researcher whose life has been violently upended by the greed and vengeance of a government bureaucrat.
On the run and living under an alias during the country’s military dictatorship, he tries to escape, while also reconnecting with the young son he had to leave behind. Even this brief description cannot fully prepare the viewer for the zigzagging subplots and delights of Mendonça’s eccentric and affectionate ode to the movies and the Brazil of his youth—and to maintaining individuality amid abuses of power.
A NEON release.
Doors and Reception from 6:15 pm | Film starts promptly at 7:00 pm
Details
- Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho
- Countries: Brazil, France, Netherlands, Germany
- Runtime: 160 Minutes
- Cast: Wagner Moura, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Gabriel Leone, Carlos Francisco, Alice Carvalho, Hermila Guedes
- Cinematographer: Evgenia Alexandrova
- Editors: Eduardo Serrano & Matheus Farias
- Executive Producer: Brent Travers
- Producer: Emilie Lesclaux
- Co-Producers: Nathanaël Karmitz, Elisha Karmitz, Fionnuala Jamison, Olivier Barbier, Leontine Petit, Erik Glijnis, Fred Burle, Sol Bondy
- Production Designer: Thales Junqueira
- Costume Designer: Rita Azevedo
- Sound Design: Tjin Hazen
- Music: Tomas Alves Souza, Mateus Alves
- US Distributor: NEON
Location
Sebastiani Theatre
476 1st Street East
The Sebastiani Theatre Foundation is dedicated to offering first-class performing arts, films and creative educational programs that inspire and entertain the entire community while preserving and enhancing Sonoma’s treasured, historic Theatre for the enjoyment of current and future generations.