FILE: A look at Oscars best picture nominee 'The Secret Agent'

Record ID: 2361134

  • Title: FILE: A look at Oscars best picture nominee 'The Secret Agent'
  • Date: 4th March 2026
  • Summary: BARCELONA, SPAIN (MARCH 2, 2026) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PETPHONE ON DISPLAY AT BOOTH PETPHONE ATTACHED TO STUFFED CAT VARIOUS OF PETPHONE ON DISPLAY AT BOOTH PETPHONE ATTACHED TO STUFFED DOG (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHAOHUI CHEN, CEO UCLOUDLINK GROUP, SAYING: “This is the PetPhone and the PetCamera. This enable pet call people if they are happy, if they are not happy. Like peop
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  • Keywords: Cannes winner Kleber Mendonca Filho Oscar nominee PRODUCER EMILIE LESCLAUX The Secret Agent Wagner Moura
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Film,North America
  • Reuters ID: LVA00A040827012026RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonca Filho's Portuguese crime drama "The Secret Agent" will compete for the Oscars' top prize of best picture on March 15.
        Mendonca Filho, who wrote and directed the thriller, explained he wanted to explore his childhood memories of life under the country's military dictatorship and how that time echoes in the present.
        "The world now is going more to extremes. And some of the ideas that were left behind, they are coming back like big time now. And I thought that was kind of ironic and interesting.
         "The film opens saying 'our story takes place in 1977, a time full of mischief', as if something is different today, you know. So I think that's what made me want to write the story, both personal and both historical," Mendonca Filho said at the Cannes Film Festival in May last year.
         Actor Wagner Moura, who played Pablo Escobar in hit TV series "Narcos," stars in the film as Marcelo, a  professor who moves from Sao Paulo to Recife to start his life over during the military dictatorship.
         "It's not about the struggle, but it takes place in that time, and it's about people that somehow in different ways resisted the dictatorship," Moura explained. 
         "The humour, I think it comes from the situations and at the time Recife particularly was incredibly sarcastic in the face of adversity, I think. And I think I captured some of the spirit of the city itself, you know," said Mendonca Filho. 
        Released in U.S. theaters on November 26 last year, "The Secret Agent" has garnered several awards this season, including four wins at the Cannes Film Festival in categories such as best actor for Moura and best director for Mendonca Filho. 
         "The Secret Agent" also received the best foreign language film award at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards and New York Film Critics Awards. Moura also won a Golden Globe for best performance by a male actor in a motion picture - drama Golden Globe, as well as best actor at the New York Film Critics Awards. He also took the home the Virtuoso award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in January.
        Nominated for four Oscars this year, including best international film, best actor and best casting, "The Secret Agent" will compete against best picture contenders including Joachim Trier's "Sentimental Value," Chloe Zhao's "Hamnet" and Guillermo del Toro's "Frankenstein." 
    (Production: Lisa Giles-Keddie)
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