For the second 12 months in a row, a Brazilian film has wowed worldwide audiences and critics, securing a number of Oscar nominations and drawing recent curiosity within the Latin American large’s movie trade.
Experts say the success of “The Secret Agent”, which has gained 4 Oscar nominations, a 12 months after “I Am Still Here” gained Brazil its first Oscar, is not any fluke, with a little bit of a push from the nation’s political local weather.
“This is neither a coincidence nor a miracle. It is the result of a lot of work, consistent policies, and, of course, talent,” Ilda Santiago, director of the Rio International Film Festival and an Oscar voter, informed AFP.
Directed by Kleber Mendonca Filho, “The Secret Agent” is a political thriller infused with magical realism. Like “I Am Still Here”, it’s set throughout Brazil’s 1964-1985 army dictatorship.
It has been nominated for Oscars within the classes of Best Picture, Best International Feature Film, Best Actor for Wagner Moura and Best Casting.
Santiago stated these two huge Brazilian films resonated with overseas audiences “because they show how our daily lives can be transformed by governments, and that is a mirror of today’s world.”
This is very true for Brazil, whose far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro — an open admirer of the dictatorship — is serving a 27-year jail time period for plotting a coup.
Before Bolsonaro got here to energy in 2019, Brazil’s movie trade had well-established financing mechanisms, very similar to these in international locations like France, Canada and Germany.
Brazil has loved waves of worldwide breakout moments, with movies corresponding to ‘Central Station’ in 1998, ‘City of God’ in 2002 and ‘Elite Squad’ starring Moura in 2007.
Mendonca Filho was additionally behind the artwork home hits ‘Aquarius’ (2016) and ‘Bacurau’ (2019).
During his time in workplace Bolsonaro minimize the funds of the Audiovisual Sector Fund by nearly half, froze bidding for movie undertaking grants and threatened to close down the nationwide movie company if it didn’t impose an ideological “filter.”
“Brazilian cinema was plugged back in with Lula’s election in 2022, after four years in which culture, in practical terms, was extinguished,” Mendonca Filho informed AFP in an interview.
Lula’s authorities reactivated the funding software course of and injected document quantities into the sector. The movie trade obtained 1.4 billion reais ($269 million) in 2025, 180 % greater than in 2021.
Nevertheless, “putting each of those bricks that were dismantled back in place is a task that takes years”, stated Santiago.
Influential movie critic Isabela Boscov stated that previously “there was a failure to take advantage” of hit movies.
She stated Brazil was now “breaking out of the bubble”, very similar to Iranian cinema within the Nineteen Nineties, Mexican cinema within the 2010s, and extra just lately, South Korean cinema.
Last 12 months ‘I Am Still Here’ racked up a number of worldwide awards, and gained Fernanda Torres a Golden Globe for finest actress.
The movie gained Brazil its first Oscar — for finest worldwide function movie.
“The Secret Agent” first earned plaudits on the Cannes Film Festival, the place it gained for finest director and Wagner Moura gained finest actor.
The film then gained two Golden Globes, for finest non-English movie and finest male actor.
“It’s an accumulation of small and big victories, like Cannes, which form the foundation on which a campaign is built,” stated Boscov.
She additionally pointed to the allure and wit of actors like Torres and Moura on the speak present circuit forward of awards season as taking part in a elementary function in selling their movies.
Several different films have scored successes at movie festivals, corresponding to ‘Manas’ in 2024 which tells the story of a 13-year-old confronting abuse on an Amazon island, and the dystopian 2025 drama ‘The Blue Trail’ — through which Brazil’s aged are ordered to maneuver to distant housing colonies.
© 2026 AFP