Brazil, 1977: During the exuberant Carnival week, Marcelo (Wagner Moura), a man in his mid-forties, returns from São Paulo to the coastal city of Recife. There he hopes to see his son again. But his arrival does not go unnoticed – amid celebrating crowds and omnipresent violence, Marcelo becomes entangled in an ever-tightening web of surveillance, corruption, and mistrust from which there is no escape. What begins as a personal journey develops into a dangerous game in the shadow of the military dictatorship.

'The Secret Agent' celebrated its world premiere in competition at the 78th Cannes International Film Festival, where it won four major international awards: two Golden Palms for Best Actor and Best Director, as well as the Film Critics' Prize (FIPRESCI) and the CICAE Independent Cinema Prize.

At its German premiere at the Hamburg Film Festival, the film was awarded the Arthouse Cinema Award by the CICAE jury, which included Wolf founder Verena Stackelberg. From the jury's statement: With ‘The Secret Agent’, we honor a film that masterfully combines political force, visual brilliance, and narrative depth, while celebrating cinema itself. (...) 'The Secret Agent' is not only a portrait of a dark chapter in Brazil's history, but also an example of how arthouse cinema can merge social relevance with cinematic intensity and artistic precision. The Secret Agent is at once a thriller, a political portrait, and a touching work of remembrance. The film lingers not only in the mind but also in the heart: it prompts us to reflect on politics and memory, on fear and courage, on art, cinema, and resistance. This is precisely what arthouse cinema is about.

[The film's] visual brilliance, sensual big-city intrigue, shaggy-dog comedy, gruesome lowlife walk-ons and epically languorous mystery combine to create something special... [It's] a movie of character, a showcase for Moura’s complex, sympathetic performance – but also the platform for some thrilling, bravura film-making. - The Guardian