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perspective of the sound," says Serrano. "Everything that's around me, everything that's kind of being told out of frame, and also where the character sound is within the frame." Over time, he's come to realize that his editing style is somewhat of a "slow burn," with tension developing over time. "And that's the thing about Kleber's films — he's really good in this," he says of the pairing with the director. Developing the world in which the story takes place, shares Serrano, can be as important as the narrative itself. In the case of The Secret Agent, the film begins with Marcelo pulling over in his VW Beetle to get gas at a small service station in the Brazilian countryside as he makes his way to Recife. A dead body lies in the dirt nearby, the result of a failed robbery from days earlier. Imagery and pacing give the viewer the feel of 1977 Brazil, including its hot and humid weather, the random dogs prowling the rural areas and the lack of urgency from local police to investigate the crime. "World building is really a key aspect of the film," he shares. For Serrano, one of the film's more challenging scenes comes mid-way through the film, where Marcelo and Elza meet in the upstairs of a cinema — a safe space overseen by the theater's projectionist. There, they discuss the political climate and the dangers they are facing. It's also the one of the first times the film moves forward to current day, where the viewer sees the universi- ty researchers going over these archival audio recordings. "When they talk in the cinema — this is a very low-key scene, but had like 45 pages (of) script," Serrano reveals. "I was like, 'Oh my God! How is this going to work?'" Flashbacks and later stages from the script helped to break up the long sequence and inform the viewer as to the bigger picture taking place. Farias, who is from the city, sees the film as a chronicle of a specific moment in Brazilian history. "A specific moment of a city, of a group of people," he shares. "Often, the goal wasn't just to move the plot forward. We always try to give time to moments that might seem small, but later become essential to the meaning of the film." For him, the "hairy-leg" scene stands out because it serves as a standalone short, breaking up the film's slow burning tension with a bit of levity. The sequence is filmed from the perspective of the unidentified leg that turned up in a shark's belly and later went missing from the morgue. Locals claim the missing leg has been spotted in public, kicking people. The scene ends by cutting to a newspaper article that's being read by Marcelo, who notes the hysteria the topic is causing. "It's really different from the whole film," says Farias of the sequence. "But (it's) the next scene that I'm more proud of, when (he's) reading the news. Marcelo comes, and this meeting becomes a reunion of people. We know more about the stories of these people." www.postmagazine.com 15 POST JAN/FEB 2026 The edit spanned roughly 11 months. Serrano and Farias collaborated on the edit.