First screening of ‘The Secret Agent’ in SP has a presentation by the film’s actors and a packed session

The Secret Agent it arrived. The new film Kleber Mendonça Filhowinner of four awards at the Cannes Film Festivalhad its first public session in São Paulo held this Friday, 24th, during the 49th São Paulo International Film Festival. The screening was attended by two actors from the film, Laura Lufési e Gregory Graziosiwho thanked the audience for their presence and stated that the film is a work about the preservation of memory.

Before disembarking in São Paulo, The Secret Agent It has also been to some national film festivals, and was shown in Salvador, Recife, Brasília, Rio de Janeiro and other capitals. Before the start of the session, Laura Lufési highlighted that there is a special taste with the premiere in São Paulo: “The film has the first shot that Kleber recorded in São Paulo in his life. I know because I’m in the scene.”

The Brazilian representative in the race for the Oscar 2026 is the first collaboration between Kleber Mendonça Filho and Wagner Mourawhich has been cited by American magazines and analysts among the possible nominees for the best actor award. The story is set in Brazil in the 1970s and follows Marcelo (Moura), a teacher who returns to Recife running away from his mysterious past, but realizes that the city is far from being the refuge he is looking for. Maria Fernanda Cândido, Tania Maria, Isabel Zuaá, Alice Carvalho e Gabriel Leone are also in the cast.

Throughout the afternoon, the public showed excitement in line while waiting for the session to begin. One of the first in line, Joanna Nascimento, 39, bought a ticket through the Mostra app and was one of the first to arrive, as she works in a bookstore that operates inside the Cinemateca. Even before seeing the film, she already believed in the film’s possibilities of doing well in the awards season. “I think he has a great chance of competing for an Oscar, based on the conversations I’m following”, he bets.

Ceramist Natasha, 39, agrees. A regular visitor to the Mostra since she was a teenager, she had great expectations for closely following Kleber Mendonça Filho’s cinema.

At the end of the session, excited but spaced applause filled the room as each actor was introduced in the final credits. When Tânia Maria appears, revelation of Bacurau who won a bigger role in Kleber’s new film, screams and applause could be heard. The same happened when he painted Wagner Moura’s name on the canvas.

For Rodrigo Sampaio, 38, a trained journalist, the film justifies the amount of applause received at international festivals. “It’s a film that shows the quality of our cinema. It’s difficult to talk about it right after watching it, as I’m still reflecting, but it has an exquisite script and direction. Seeing it during the Mostra, with so many incredible international films, shows that our cinema is not far behind.”

What surprised risk and intelligence analyst Fernanda Chester, 26, was that the film managed to fit unexpected comic relief into such a charged story, something that is mainly the responsibility of Tânia Maria. She and her group of friends, Lucas, Beatriz and Guilherme, say they are already starting the campaign to The Secret Agent Not Oscar.

“It’s a film that manages to keep the audience entertained the entire time”, says Lucas, a compliance analyst. “Even though it is a long film, lasting more than 2h30, the fact that it is divided into three chapters adds dynamism.”

Beatriz Bento, 27, also a risk and intelligence analyst, says there is a lot of emotion. “At the end, I started crying. The film swaps places with two characters that moved me. I think Wagner is incredible.”

The Secret Agent debuts on the national circuit on November 6th. Before that, there are three more sessions at Mostra SP: on Saturday, 25th, at 4:40 pm at CineSesc; on Tuesday, 28th, at 8pm at Cultura Artística and on Wednesday, 29th, at 7:40pm at Espaço Petrobrás de Cinema.