The Secret Agent

Source: Victor Juca

‘The Secret Agent’

Neon has acquired North American rights to Kleber Mendonca Filho’s Cannes Competition title The Secret Agent.

Neon is planning a theatrical release in the territory for later in 2025. mk2 Films handles international sales.

Set in 1977, political thriller The Secret Agent follows a technology agent on the run, who arrives in Recife, Brazil during carnival week. His hoped-for reunion with his son is disrupted by violence in the city.

Wagner Moura leads the cast, alongside Maria Fernanda Cândido, Gabriel Leon, Carlos Francisco, Alice Carvalho, and Hermila Guedes.

Emilie Lesclaux produced the film for Brazil’s Cinemascopio. Co-producers are Nathanaël Karmitz, Elisha Karmitz, Fionnuala Jamison, Olivier Barbier, Leontine Petit, Erik Glijnis, Fred Burle and Sol Bondy. The film is made by Cinemascopio, MK Productions, Lemming Film and One Two Films.

The film debuted in Cannes on Sunday, May 18. It scored a decent 2.8 average on Screen’s Cannes jury grid, for joint-third place in the latest ranking.

Neon will debut another Competition title, Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, in Cannes this evening; the company has already launched Julia Ducournau’s Alpha, and also has Raoul Peck’s Orwell: 2+2=5 and Michael Angelo Covino’s Splitsville, produced by the company, on its Cannes slate.

Neon is currently on a five-year streak of distributing the Palme d’Or-winner in the US, including last year’s Anora, which went on to win five Oscars including best picture.

The Secret Agent is Mendonca Filho’s third Cannes Competition entry, after Aquarius in 2016 and jury prize winner Bacurau in 2019.

Topics