KLEBER MENDONÇA FILHO

Kleber Mendonça Filho was born in Recife, Brazil. A graduate of studies in journalism, he has had a long career as a film critic and programmer. He oversaw the cinema section of the Joaquim Nabuco Foundation and has written for the Jornal do Commercio, as well as for other magazines such as Revista Continente and Folha de São Paulo. He is Artistic Director of Recife’s Janela Internacional de Cinema and Chief Film Curator at the Instituto Moreira Salles. Neighboring Sounds, his first feature-length fiction film, was selected for more than 100 international festivals, and won 32 awards. The film represented Brazil at the Academy Awards in 2014 and was named one of the 10 Best Films of the Year by The New York Times. Aquarius, his second feature-length film, has enjoyed an even more prestigious career, having been launched in more than 100 countries. In 2018, together with Juliano Dornelles, Filho co-wrote and co-directed Bacurau, which was presented in competition at the Festival de Cannes in 2019 and won the Jury Prize. His documentary Ghost Portrait had its world premiere at Cannes in 2023. The film is the fruit of seven years’ work and research, filming and editing, and was presented as a Special Screening. In 2025, The Secret Agent premiered in competition at Cannes, where it won the awards for Best Director and Best Actor (for Wagner Moura).