Inside “The Secret Agent”: Kleber Mendonça Filho & Wagner Moura on Power, Paranoia, and an Oscar‑Nominated Thriller

"The Secret Agent" could make history: if it wins Best International Feature, Brazil would become the first country in 37 years to win back-to-back. Oscar nominees writer/director Kleber Mendonça Filho & star Wagner Moura on using cinema, urban legends, and stop-motion to explore democracy's fragility.

Oscar-Nominee Gabriel Domingues on Casting the Standout Ensemble Around Wagner Moura in “The Secret Agent”

Casting director Gabriel Domingues has just made Oscars history. With "The Secret Agent" earning a nomination in the Academy’s first-ever best achievement in casting category, Domingues finds himself fielding the same question again and again — “But what does casting mean?” — while helping redefine how the craft is understood on the world stage.

Oscar-Nominated “Sentimental Value” Editor Olivier Bugge Coutté Breaks Down the Film’s Most Devastating Scenes

After earning his first Oscar nomination, Olivier Bugge Coutté is still thinking in millimeters — because in "Sentimental Value," emotional truth lives in the smallest possible edits.

Writer/Director Kleber Mendonça Filho & Best Actor Nominee Wagner Moura on Their Oscar-Nominated Thriller “The Secret Agent”

The Secret Agent could make history: if it wins Best International Feature, Brazil would become the first country in 37 years to win back-to-back. Oscar nominees writer/director Kleber Mendonça Filho & star Wagner Moura on using cinema, urban legends, and stop-motion to explore democracy's fragility.

From “Dune” to “The Last of Us”: How Formosa Group Elevates Storytelling through Sound

How does Formosa Group power the sound behind "Anora," "Dune," "John Wick," and "The Last of Us"? COO Matt Dubin on nurturing talent, adapting post-COVID, and why California's film tax incentive matters. "Sound is a storytelling tool, not a final step."

“No Other Choice” Writer/Director Park Chan-wook on His Killer Instinct

Park Chan-wook spent 15 years adapting Donald Westlake's "The Ax" into "No Other Choice"—a darkly comic thriller about a fired executive who chooses vengeance as his next career move.

“Sentimental Value” Production Designer Jørgen Stangebye Larsen on Joachim Trier’s Tender Family Drama

Winner of this year’s Grand Prix prize at Cannes, Joachim Trier’s tender family drama, Sentimental Value (original title: Affeksjonsverdi), is co-written with Eskil Vogt and stars Renate Reinsve (Presumed Innocent); the trio previously collaborated on 2021’s critical darling, The Worst Person in the World, which was nominated for two Oscars, Best Original Screenplay for Vogt and Trier, and Best International Feature. Trier’s latest explores themes of grief,

Editing in Secrecy: How Amir Etminan Cut Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or Winner “It Was Just an Accident”

“When Mr. Panahi called and invited me to meet him, I didn’t ask any questions because I knew the secrecy and the sensitivity of his projects,” picture editor Amir Etminan tells The Credits through an interpreter. “So I accepted the invitation and went to have a conversation in person.” What followed was a discussion of Iranian writer-director Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, an unflinching portrait of trauma,

“Anora” Completes Its Cinderella Story With Fairy Tale Oscars Night

The 97th Oscars ended up being a true fairy tale story for writer/director Sean Baker’s Anora, with Baker capping an already magical night after winning Oscars for Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Director—in which he gave a rousing acceptance speech defending the unparalleled experience of the theater experience—by seeing Anora take the top prize, Best Picture. For good measure, Anora‘s Cinderella herself, Mikey Madison,

How Director Mohammad Rasoulof Shot his Oscar-Nominated “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” in Secret

Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof wanted to tell a big story — so he went small. The Seed of the Sacred Fig explores his country’s authoritarian rule, repressive justice, patriarchal dominance, and women’s rights through its impact on one family.

Taking place during the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom movement, a nationwide protest sparked by the arrest of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman jailed for not wearing a hijab and beaten to death while in custody,

“Anora” Cinematographer Drew Daniels on an Old School Approach to Modern, Misguided Love

Shot over 37 days in New York, one of this year’s awards darlings is Sean Baker’s compulsively riveting Anora, a lap-dancing underworld version of Cinderella. Mikey Madison plays the titular stripper, Anora/”Ani,” who thinks she has hit the jackpot when playboy and heir to a Russian oligarch, Ivan “Vanya” (Mark Eydelshteyn), falls in love with her. In an instant, she is plunged into a world of immense wealth, but will she be able to hang on to the rags-to-riches fantasy when forces outside of their budding romance are pressed into service to tear them apart?

How “Anora”‘s DP & Production Designer Brought a Deconstructed Cinderella to New York

Halfway through Sean Baker’s Anora, there’s a scene where exotic dancer turned newlywed Ani (Mickey Madison) is tied up and gagged with a red scarf. The dilemma is a response to her breaking the nose and slap-boxing two men questioning her marriage to a silver-spooned Russian rich boy named Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn). The scarf (and its color) can easily be overlooked during the unfolding chaos that plays out as a real-time home invasion lasting for roughly 25 minutes and sees Ivan run away from his bride.

Oscar-Nominated Editor Laurent Sénéchal’s High Wire Act in “Anatomy of a Fall”

After sweeping this awards season with trophies at the BAFTAs, France’s César Awards, Critics Choice, and the recent Spirit Awards, writer-director Justine Triet and co-writer Arthur Harari’s cerebral courtroom drama is headed for the home stretch, with five Academy Award nominations on the line. Anatomy of a Fall is a masterclass of filmmaking across the board, and that surely includes the surgical work done by editor Laurent Sénéchal (C’est ça l’amour,

“Ferrari” Production Designer Maria Djurkovic on Building Enzo Ferrari’s World in Michael Mann’s Racing Epic

Ferrari raced into theaters this past Christmas, and the bright red color of the iconic racing cars featured in the film seemed perfectly timed for its holiday release. Based on the 1991 nonfiction book “Enzo Ferrari: The Man, The Car, The Races, The Machine,” and helmed by celebrated four-time Oscar nominee Michael Mann, Ferrari centers on the summer of 1957, a very difficult time for Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver).

Searching for That Ferocious “Ferrari” Sound With Supervising Sound Editor Tony Lamberti

How eager was Tony Lamberti to work on Michael Mann’s latest feature? Let’s just say the director had Lamberti, a Formula 1 enthusiast, at Ferrari.

The Oscar-nominated (Inglourious Basterds), Emmy-winning (John Adams) audio engineer got his first peek at the feature about Enzo Ferrari and his iconic racing legacy back in 2015. Overseeing a mix update on Mann’s crime thriller Blackhat,

Michael Mann Confirms That “Heat 2” is His Next Movie & Adam Driver Could Star

When Michael Mann’s Heat hit theaters in December of 1995, it gifted us with the first time that Robert De Niro and Al Pacino acted in a scene together. The stars of Godfather 2 had never actually gotten a chance to play off one another, and in Mann’s Heat, while they had an entire movie to enact a brilliant, brutal cat-and-mouse game as Pacino’s Lt. Vincent Hanna tracked De Niro’s criminal Neil McCauley in one of the decade’s most satisfying crime sagas,

Ava DuVernay’s “Origin” Depicts a Writer’s Life That’s as Vital as Her Subject

Reviews are starting to pour in for writer/director Ava DuVernay’s latest film, Origin, which recently had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. DuVernay’s latest is centered on the life and work of author and journalist Isabel Wilkerson, specifically on her astonishing, Pulitzer Prize-winning 2020 book “Caste: The Origin of Our Discontents.” Wilkerson’s book was as ambitious in scope as it was scorching to read, centered on her theory that linked racism in the United States to the caste system,

Ava DuVernay’s “Origin” Unveils Her Film About Author Isabel Wilkerson & The Creation of a Masterpiece

Ava DuVernay’s latest film, Origin, is having its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 6, yet powerhouse indie studio Neon has already acquired worldwide rights to the film. Now, Neon has revealed the first look at the film centered on the life of “Caste” and “The Warmth of Other Suns” author and journalist Isabel Wilkerson, played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. The marriage of auteur and material couldn’t be a better fit,

Michael Mann’s “Ferrari” Starring Adam Driver Revs Into High Gear in First Trailer

Legendary director Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral, The Insider) has been thinking about making Ferrari for decades, and now, at long last, Mann’s meticulously crafted epic about Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver) is here. Ferrari, which is set to have its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival this week, has dropped its first trailer.

In this nearly wordless 90-second glimpse, it’s 1957, and we’re behind the wheel of one of Enzo Ferrari’s namesake racecars as it barrels along one of the most dangerous races in the world,

How “Sanctuary” Cinematographer Ludovica Isidori Turned a Single Room Into a Dynamic Psycho-Emotional Arena

How do you make a single location subliminally consume an entire story? That was the question Italian cinematographer Ludovica Isidori had to answer in director Zachary Wigon’s sophomore film Sanctuary.

Starring Christopher Abbott (Girls) as Hal, an heir to a luxury hotel empire, and Margaret Qualley (Maid), a dominatrix named Rebecca who is equal parts seductive, smart, and clever, Sanctuary is a slow-burn psychological thriller that reveals the intimacy of their unorthodox relationship with delicious restraint.