The Second Mother
She will be doing exams for a prestigious architecture school. The barely literate mother and her well‑read daughter stand for some of the cultural and political changes Brazil has gone through over the last 25 years, particularly in the way the northeast of Brazil is seen through the lens of internal xenophobia and prejudice. I saw this sharp observation of class tension in an upper class shopping mall multiplex, the audience had been trained over so many years to identify with the well‑to‑do family in popular TV comedies released as films. Slowly, they came to realise with frozen grins on their faces that the heroes in this film are the employees, that the maid is not just comic relief and that the humour and the drama come from witnessing society change before our eyes.
-Kleber Mendonça Filho, Curator
Special Guests
Born in Recife, Brazil, Kleber Mendonça Filho became a film programmer and critic while making award-winning short films.
Neighboring Sounds, Mendonça’s first feature film, had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2012 and was Brazil’s entry for the Oscars. The New York Times listed it among the ten best films of the year. Aquarius, starring Sonia Braga, was in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016. It was nominated for a César Awards and na Independent Spirit Awards. In 2019, Bacurau, co-directed by Juliano Dornelles, screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Jury Prize. In 2023, Mendonça Filho released Pictures of Ghosts, which was selected as Brazil’s official submission to the 2024 Oscars. The Secret Agent (2025), starring Wagner Moura, premiered at Cannes, where it won Best Director, Best Actor, and the FIPRESCI Prize. It also gardered four nominations at the 2026 Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best International Film, Best Actor and Best Casting) and won 2 Golden Globes (Best International Film and Best Actor). Kleber is also a film programmer for Instituto Moreira Salles and the artistic director of Janela Internacional de Cinema do Recife.
Tickets
Sydney Film Festival acknowledges Australia’s First Nations People as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land, and pay respect to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, upon whose Country SFF is based.
We honour the storytelling and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia.
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