Director Mendonça Filho of 'The Secret Agent' reflects on memory and success of Brazilian cinema

MEXICO CITY (AP) — For the second consecutive year, the hypercompetitive category of best international film at the Academy Awards includes a Brazilian film that has also earned a nomination for best picture, best acting and achievement in casting.

“The Secret Agent,” directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, will compete for the award on March 15 in Los Angeles, a year after Walter Salles’ “I’m still here” won the statuette for best international film — and there is significant chance that it could secure a second triumph for Brazilian cinema.

“So many good things have happened to the film and it feels like it just keeps going,” Mendonça Filho said in an interview in Mexico City, where “The Secret Agent” is playing in theaters.

The director of films such as “Bacurau,” “Pictures of Ghosts” and “Aquarius,” credits this milestone for Brazilian cinema, in part, to public funding for cinematography in Brazil, which he said leads to diversity in production and highlights the talent available.

“What I want now, today talking to you, is that...there is a film being edited in Brazil by someone and maybe this film we will be talking about next year. That’s what I want,” he said.

Set in the northern city of Recife in 1977, “The Secret Agent” explores themes such as the loss of personal and collective memory. The character played by star Wagner Moura assumes a false identity to avoid his pursuers during the military dictatorship while obsessively searches public records for any trace of his mother. At the same time, he is at risk of vanishing from his own son’s memory.

“In my country memory is associated with class,” said Mendonça Filho. “For example, well-off families from the middle class, they all have family albums. But if you go to poor families ... they don't. It’s an incredibly strong theme to be discussed. And I think that’s what the film is about. The film is very much about not having existed. Not because of you, but because of society.”

Despite the risk of erasing memory, the film is anchored in the memories of Mendonça Filho and aided by the production design of Thales Junqueira and the costumes of Rita Azevedo, through fashion, buildings, cars, as well as an endearing cast, which includes the septuagenarian Tânia Maria in the role of Dona Sebastiana.

It is still a Brazilian film, so despite the misfortune, there are moments of comedy such as a “hairy leg” attack, a media hoax used to justify crimes, and nostalgic tributes to local theaters that once showed hits like “Jaws.”

“1977 is the first year I remember”, the director said. “I was already a little cinephile. I was very interested in cars. I don’t know anything about cars today, but cars at the time were really interesting for me. People I remember, clothes, colors. And when I was writing the script, I really felt myself crawling back into time, into myself.”

Mendonça Filho said he was looking for an exciting tone for the film, shot in Panavision, and that it would have a captivating sound, full of music.

“Much like the films from the past that made people want to see films in a cinema,” he said. “Sometimes it can be brutal, but it’s also full of love and it’s very much about life in Brazil and in Latin America”.

Brazilian filmmaker Kleber MendonÁa Filho, director of the Oscar nominated film The Secret Agent, poses for a portrait in Mexico City, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Berenice Bautista)

Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho, director of the Oscar nominated film The Secret Agent, poses for a portrait in Mexico City, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Berenice Bautista)

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Belarusian journalist Pavel Dabravolski was convicted Monday of treason and sentenced to nine years in a maximum-security prison, activists said, the fifth media worker to be jailed in two weeks in a relentless government crackdown on freedom of the press.

Dabravolski, who has reported for international and domestic news outlets and won numerous prizes for his work, was found guilty during a closed-door trial at Minsk City Court, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists. The 36-year-old most recently worked for BelaPAN, which the Belarusian authorities have designated as extremist.

President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus for over three decades, has stayed in power through a relentless crackdown on dissent.

Massive protests broke out following the 2020 elections, which were widely denounced as fraudulent. More than 65,000 people were arrested and thousands were beaten. In the wake of the protests, hundreds of independent media outlets and nongovernmental organizations were shut down and outlawed.

Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said Dabravolski was being targeted by “trumped-up charges.”

“Dabravolski’s only ‘crime’ was doing his job and covering the 2020 protests after the stolen elections,” she said. “We see that the conveyor belt of repression inside Belarus continues unabated.”

Activists have reported a sharp increase in government pressure on Belarus’ media workers.

“Repression is escalating and Dabravolski's sentence shows that the authorities are increasing pressure on journalists in a country that already has the worst freedom of speech in Europe,” Andrei Bastunets, the head of the journalists' association, told The Associated Press.

The group says that 28 journalists are imprisoned in Belarus.

“It contradicts the idea that the human rights situation in Belarus has allegedly improved due to the release of prominent political prisoners,” Bastunets said.

Under Lukashenko, Belarus has faced years of Western isolation and sanctions for repression and for allowing Moscow to use its territory during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He has recently sought to improve relations with the West by releasing hundreds of political prisoners.

Many more remain behind bars, however, with human rights organization Viasna estimating that there are 1,140 political prisoners.

Also on Monday, Belarus' main security agency, the KGB, designated four independent publishing houses that publish books in the Belarusian language as “extremist” without any explanation.

Lukashenko has made Russian an official language, alongside Belarusian, which like Russian uses the Cyrillic alphabet and is hardly heard spoken on the streets of Minsk and other large cities anymore. Official business is conducted in Russian, which dominates the majority of the media. Lukashenko speaks only Russian, and government officials often don’t use their native tongue.

Viasna activists say that independent book publishers have been facing increased pressure lately, with authorities targeting them with raids and detentions. At least 10 people have been arrested in the last month as part of that campaign, Viasna said.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko arrives to attend a meeting of the supreme council of the Union State with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov, Pool)