This is a prestige play of the highest order. Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Wagner Moura β two stars who dominated this year's non-English language Oscar race with 'Sentimental Value' and 'The Secret Agent' respectively β are joining forces on a film about art, activism, and Indigenous resistance. The project positions both actors as committed artists drawn to meaningful, globally-relevant stories.
Industry insiders note that pairing two recently-Oscar-nominated foreign language stars is a calculated awards-season strategy. Sources close to Maria Farinha Filmes say the production company has been aggressively expanding its international slate through Los Angeles-based MFF & Co., which launched in 2024 and acquired a stake in London's Violet Films.
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas was Oscar-nominated for 'Sentimental Value' at this year's Academy Awards. Wagner Moura won best actor at Cannes for 'The Secret Agent' in 2025, earning an Oscar nomination for the same performance. The film is set during Brazil's military dictatorship in the mid-1970s when a major highway was cut through Yanomami territory.
This pairing feels inevitable β two of cinema's most compelling non-English language performers gravitating toward a story about art as resistance. With Viola Davis' AshΓ© Ventures also attached to Maria Farinha Filmes projects, the production company is clearly building an international powerhouse roster.
Oscar-nominated Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas has been cast in the central role of "The Outsider" ("A Estrangeira"), joining forces with Wagner Moura β the star and executive producer of the film. The project brings together the two biggest names from this year's Academy Awards race for non-English language cinema, where both actors earned nominations for their respective films. Moura, who took home best actor honors at last year's Cannes Film Festival for "The Secret Agent" and received an Oscar nomination for his performance, will play a key supporting role in the film while also serving as an executive producer.
The Brazilian actor's involvement signals how seriously he's invested in telling this particular story. "'The Outsider' is a film I can't wait to see on screen," Moura said in a statement. "It represents the type of cinema that I feel the most drawn to β a cinema that unites a powerful story with a vital struggle." Written and directed by Brazilian filmmaker Sandra Delgado, known for Disney's "Maria: The Outlaw Legend," the film is an intimate biopic of photographer Claudia Andujar.
A Swiss-born Brazilian artist and activist who lost her family in the Holocaust, Andujar found refuge in Brazil and devoted decades to documenting the Yanomami people through her photographic work. When Brazil's military dictatorship cut a major highway through Yanomami territory in the mid-1970s, her images became an act of resistance and a turning point in her life. Her photographs are held in the permanent collections of MoMA and the Tate, and she's credited with contributing to Indigenous land demarcation and vaccination campaigns in the Amazon.
Ibsdotter Lilleaas brings unexpected depth to the role: she spent a year living in Brazil as a high school student in Rio Verde, GoiΓ‘s state. "I'm so happy to be part of telling Claudia's story, and the story of the Yanomami people," she said. Delgado revealed that she first met Ibsdotter Lilleaas through Moura at Telluride β where the actress introduced herself speaking Portuguese.
"After seeing her work in 'Sentimental Value,' it was clear she had the sensitivity the role demanded." Produced by SΓ£o Paulo's Maria Farinha Filmes, "The Outsider" marks Delgado's first fiction feature after two decades of research on Andujar and the Yanomami struggle. The production company has been expanding aggressively internationally β in 2024 they launched Los Angeles-based MFF & Co., which acquired a minority stake in London's four-time Oscar-nominated Violet Films. Maria Farinha Filmes is also developing "The Girl Who Could Fly," inspired by gymnast Daiane dos Santos and co-produced by Viola Davis' AshΓ© Ventures.
