Any fans of Kleber Mendonça Filho? As I reported in December, the Brazilian filmmaker is planning to shoot a new film in Brazil, titled “Secret Agents”. The film is set in the late 1970s during the final years of Brazil’s military dictatorship. Wagner Moura (“Civil War”) is set to star.
Although the story takes place in 1977, Filho says it is not about that era’s dictatorship: it is instead about the “logic of Brazil”. It's a “historical” film. Variety says the film is expected to be released next year. I’m told production begins next month.
Filho is the filmmaker behind “Bacurau,” “Aquarius” and ”Neighbouring Sounds.” He’s turned into a world-class filmmaker in recent years. There’s no doubting that he’ll be aiming for a Cannes premiere next year, his last two were in competition.
And, what about Cannes 2025? There’s a hefty number of A-list filmmakers who might premiere their new films on the Croissette next year: Almodovar, Malick, Zvyagintsev, Refn, Ostlund, Wes Anderson, Trier, Spike Lee, Haynes, Aster, Dardenne, Weerasethakul, Linklater, Park, Lapid, Serra, Saleh, Bi Gan, and Filho.
Criterion's December lineup has some great additions to the library, but the title that jumped out at me is Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man," which officially joins the Collection on December 8.