Kleber Mendonça Filho

Kleber Mendonça Filho (Portuguese: [ˈklɛbeʁ mẽˈdõsɐ ˈfiʎu]; born 22 November 1968)^[1] is a Brazilian film director, screenwriter and producer.^[2] Having initiated his career as a movie critic, he transitioned to filmmaking in 2002, initially directing short films and documentaries. In 2012, his narrative feature debut Neighboring Sounds (2012) was included by The New York Times in its best-of-the-year list.^[3]

His following films, Aquarius (2016) and Bacurau (2019), were nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, while the latter won the Jury Prize in Cannes.^[4] For The Secret Agent (2025), Mendonça Filho won the Best Director award and the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Film at the Cannes Film Festival,^[5] having also been nominated for Best Picture – Drama and Best International Film at the 83rd Golden Globes Awards.

With a degree in journalism from the Federal University of Pernambuco, Kleber Mendonça Filho began his career as a film critic and journalist. He wrote for newspapers such as Jornal do Commercio and Folha de S. Paulo, for magazines such as Continente^[6] and Cinética,^[7] and for his own site, CinemaScópio.

Mendonça's films have received more than 120 awards in Brazil and abroad, with selections in festivals such as New York, Copenhagen and Cannes (Quinzaine des réalisateurs). Film festivals in Rotterdam, Toulouse, and Santa Maria da Feira have presented retrospectives of his films. He has served as programmer of cinema for the Joaquim Nabuco Foundation.

Having initiated his career as a movie critic, Mendonça transitioned to the filmmaking in 2002, initially directing short films and documentaries. He migrated from video to digital and 35mm film in the 2000s. Over the course of that decade, he made several short films, including A Menina do Algodão (co-directed by Daniel Bandeira, 2002), Vinil Verde (2004), Eletrodoméstica (2005), Noite de Sexta Manhã de Sábado (2006), and Recife Frio (Cold Tropics, 2009), as well as a feature-length documentary, Crítico (2008).

Neighbouring Sounds (O Som ao Redor, 2012) was Mendonça's first feature-length drama, winning numerous awards. Film critic AO Scott of The New York Times included it in his list of the 10 best films of 2012.^[3] Caetano Veloso, in his column in the Brazilian newspaper O Globo, classified it as "one of the best movies made recently in the world ".^[8] The film was selected as the Brazilian submission for the 86th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not nominated.

His second feature film, Aquarius (2016), had its world premiere at the main competition of the 69th Cannes Film Festival. In 2017, he was the jury president of the Critics' Week section of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.^[9]

His third feature film, Bacurau (2019), co-written and co-directed with Juliano Dornelles, won the Jury Prize at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival, alongside Ladj Ly's Les Misérables.^[10] In 2020, he was a member of the main competition jury of the 70th Berlin International Film Festival. The following year, he was a member of the main competition jury of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.

His second documentary feature, Pictures of Ghosts (Retratos Fantasmas) had its world premiere at the Special Screenings section of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. The film was selected as the Brazilian submission for the 96th Academy Awards, but was not nominated. In 2024, he was a member of the main competition jury of the 81st Venice International Film Festival.

The Secret Agent (O Agente Secreto), his fourth feature film, had its world premiered at the main competition of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where Mendonça was awarded the Best Director prize, alongside the Best Actor prize for Wagner Moura.^[11][12] It was also selected as the Brazilian submission for the 98th Academy Awards.^[13]

Mendonça is married to French producer Emilie Lesclaux. Together they created the production company CinemaScópio.^[14]

During the world premiere of Aquarius at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, Mendonça and the film's cast showed protest signs written in Portuguese, English and French criticizing the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff. The signs included messages such as "Brazil is not a democracy anymore", "Sauvez la démocratie brésilienne" ("Save Brazilian democracy"), and "Dilma, vamos resistir com você" ("Dilma, we will resist with you").^[15] Dilma was later removed from power. Her successor, right-wing politician Michel Temer, through his Ministry of Culture Oscar submission committee, boycotted Aquarius during the selection process for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards,^[16] which was seen as an act of retaliation following the Cannes protest.^[17]

During the far-right Jair Bolsonaro government (2019–2022), Bacurau was also not selected as the Brazilian official submission for the 92nd Academy Awards,^[18] creating further controversy around a supposed political boycott of Mendonça's films.^[19][20]

In 2021, he announced his membership in the Workers' Party, the center-left party led by Lula.^[21][22]

In 2025, Mendonça and more than 350 directors, actors and producers, signed a letter denouncing the ongoing genocide in Gaza, stating: "We cannot remain silent while genocide is taking place in Gaza".^[23][24][25]

For Aquarius (2016), Mendonça Filho was nominated for Best International Film at the 32nd Independent Spirit Awards^[26] and for the César Award for Best Foreign Film.^[27]

For Bacurau (2019), he was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, winning the Jury Prize in Cannes^[4] and the NYFCC Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

For The Secret Agent (2025), Mendonça Filho won the Best Director award and the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Film at Cannes,^[28] the NYFCC Award for Best Foreign Language Film, as well as the award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 51st Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, where he also was the runner-up for Best Picture.^[29] At the 83rd Golden Globes Awards, Kleber Mendonça Filho became the second Brazilian filmmaker to be nominated for Best Motion Picture, following Fernando Meirelles.

• Kleber Mendonça Filho at IMDb