Arthouse streamer and distributor Mubi has acquired the political thriller The Secret Agent from writer and director Kleber Mendonça Filho (Ghost Portrait, Bacurau, Aquarius), which has been a standout in the Cannes Film Festival competition, for the U.K., Ireland, India and Latin America, except for Brazil.
The Portuguese-language movie, about a technology expert returning to his hometown in 1977 to reunite with his young son and flee the country, premiered at Cannes on Sunday. The Secret Agent stars Wagner Moura, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Gabriel Leon, Carlos Francisco, Alice Carvalho and Hermila Guedes.
Mubi will unveil release plans for the various territories in the near future. It struck the deal with MK2, which is handling international sales on the movie. Neon has acquired the film for North America.
The Secret Agent is set in Brazil in 1977. “Marcelo, a technology expert in his early 40s, is on the run,” reads a synopsis. “He arrives in Recife during carnival week, hoping to reunite with his son but soon realizes that the city is far from being the non-violent refuge he seeks.”
The film has drawn rave reviews. “Enlivened by a populous, almost Altman-esque gallery of characters — way too many to mention — played without a single false note, and by the strong sense of a community pulling together for safety from the oppressive forces outside, the movie luxuriates in an inebriating sense of time and place that speaks of Mendonça Filho’s intense love for the setting,” David Rooney wrote in his THR review. “It’s a major achievement, and for my money, sure to be one of the best films of the year.
The Secret Agent is the Brazilian filmmaker’s third film to premiere in competition at Cannes after Aquarius in 2016 and Bacurau, which he co-wrote and co-directed with Juliano Dornelles and won the Prix du Jury, in 2019. In 2017, Filho served as the jury president of the Critics’ Week section at Cannes and his second documentary Pictures of Ghosts premiered in the Special Screenings section at the 2023 festival.
The Secret Agent has Moura returning to Portuguese-language cinema after several years away. The film is produced by Emilie Lesclaux, Nathanaël Karmitz, Elisha Karmitz, Fionnuala Jamison, Olivier Barbier, Leontine Petit, Erik Glijnis, Fred Burke and Sol Bondy.