John Ewing is photographed at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque's Peter B. Lewis Theater. (Photo credit: Robert Muller) Robert Muller

OK, you’ve seen the probable Oscar nominees: “Sinners,” “Hamnet,” “One Battle After Another,” et al. Now, see some great new movies you’ve probably never heard of.

In January and February, the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque has an especially strong lineup of new releases. Among them are the first (and perhaps only) Cleveland showings of significant foreign-language films that may become Oscar nominees themselves. But unlike the weeklong runs and multitude of daily showtimes that new movies enjoy at the multiplex, these upcoming first-run engagements at the Cinematheque consist of only one, two, or three screenings. Clear your calendars.

The Cinematheque generally shows films only Thursday through Sunday. Its 2026 offerings begin unspooling January 8-11, when the nonprofit art house premieres the best-reviewed new movie on its latest two-month calendar, Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “The Secret Agent.”

Debuting last May at the Cannes Film Festival, where it became the festival’s most-awarded film (among other accolades, it won Best Actor for star Wagner Moura and Best Director), this Brazilian period piece and political thriller went on to collect major prizes from critics’ groups and placed high on many reviewers’ year-end “ten best” lists. In a poll of 125 international critics and filmmakers conducted by Film Comment magazine, “The Secret Agent” was voted the third best movie of 2025; it finished No. 5 in a similar poll of 148 worldwide film experts conducted by entertainment website IndieWire. There’s now talk of major Oscar nominations for this subtitled drama.