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There is a tremendous demand for Brazilian features at domestic cinemas right now due to a combination of recently established federal government quotas for local pics and the low supply of U.S. blockbusters resulting from last year’s Hollywood strikes, said participants of this year’s Expocine, Latin America’s largest theatrical distribution-based industry event held in Sao Paulo.

A presidential decree set the quotas for 2024. Exhibitors with more than 200 screens must reserve 16% of their screenings for Brazilian pics. The percentage is lower for smaller exhibitors, dropping to 7.5% for exhibitors with just one screen.

The decree also establishes a 50% limit of occupation for a single pic – usually a U.S. blockbuster – in an exhibitor’s circuit. If an exhibitor chooses to screen a blockbuster in more than half of their screening sessions, it must compensate within the year with screenings of local pics above the quota.

Marcelo Lima, CEO of Tonks,...

With Tito and the Birds, his first animated feature, Gustavo Steinberg took on the most timely and complex of themes, striving to make them accessible to children. Based in a dystopian city that looks a lot like São Paulo—but could really be any metropolis—Shout! Factory’s Brazilian Oscar entry watches as the world is overcome by a disease of fear. Seeking a cure for the contagion in birds—creatures of mythological weight, which have quietly observed human life since the dawn of time—young protagonist Tito discovers that the salve may well exist within himself.

“The idea was to tell a story to kids about this culture of fear that is brought by the media, by the social networks, this new kind of fear that is emerging in the world,” the director says, sitting down with executive producer Daniel Greco. Seeing the world falling ever further into a demented,...