The Secret Agent

Born in 1968 in Recife (Brazil), he graduated in Journalism from the Federal University of Pernambuco. He was responsible for the film section of the Joaquim Nabuco Foundation for 18 years and wrote for his hometown’s ‘Jornal do Commercio’ among other media. He is artistic director of the Janela Internacional de Cinema do Recife festival and chief film curator at the Instituto Moreira Salles. His short films (‘The Little Cotton Girl’, ‘Green Vinyl’, ‘Eletrodoméstica’ and ‘Cold Tropics’) have garnered more than a hundred international awards. In 2012 he won the Fipresci Award at the Rotterdam Festival with his first feature film, ‘Neighboring Sounds’, which was Brazil’s nominee for the Oscars. His second feature film, ‘Aquarius’ (2016), premiered at Cannes and participated in the Official Section at Seminci, and in 2018 he co-directed and co-wrote, together with Juliano Dornelles, ‘Bacurau’, winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes, where ‘Pictures of Ghosts’ premiered as a special screening in 2023. The film won second prize for Best Film in Seminci’s Time of History and represented Brazil in the Oscar race. With ‘The Secret Agent’ (2025), he won the award for best director at Cannes, as well as the Fipresci award and the award for best actor for Wagner Moura.