Interview: Kleber Mendonça Filho & Wagner Moura – The Secret Agent

Winner of the Best Director and Best Actor prizes at Cannes Film Festival, The Secret Agent brought together Kleber Mendonça Filho and Wagner Moura for the first time in a collaboration that blends political urgency with cinematic prowess. Set in 1977 under Brazil’s military dictatorship, this follows a man living under a stolen identity in Recife, where the threat of surveillance and the fear of disappearance shape every decision he makes. Both artists bring their shared regional roots and long-standing political engagement to the project, making the film not just a portrait of a dark historical moment but an act of remembrance. These themes align closely with the artistic trajectories of Mendonça Filho and Moura — with the filmmaker who treats the city of Recife as both setting and character—a living archive of memories, injustices, and social contradictions from Neighboring Sounds to Pictures of Ghosts). Moura, meanwhile, has navigated a varied career with political subject matter and with characters caught between personal conviction and oppressive systems. I had the chance to ask Kleber how the research component was part of the screenplay blueprint while I asked Wagner about him connecting with the material. NEON releases The Secret Agent theatrically today.