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In the run-up to next month’s Cannes Festival, Cologne-based Media Luna New Films has acquired international rights to “We Had It Coming,” starring Natalie Krill and Brazil’s “The Friendly Man,” one of the standouts at Ventana Sur’s strong Copia Final showcase of near-finished Latin American movies.

MK2 Mile End will distribute “We Had It Coming” in Canada; O2 Play, the theatrical, TV and DVD distribution company of Fernando Mereilles’ O2 Filmes production house, will release “The Friendly Man,” now in advanced post-production, in Brazil.

Media Luna will introduce both titles to buyers at next month’s Cannes Film Market.

“We Had It Coming,” the English-language debut of Montreal based Paul Barbeau, and “The Friendly Man,” with Brazilian rock star Paulo Miklos as its male lead, tackle issues which are liable of becoming trending topics at this year’s Cannes Film Market: Women fighting back; men questioning their...

Madrid — Women fighting back. Three of the six titles in Ventana Sur’s Copia Final this year picture women confronting outrage or tragedy – gender violence (“Do You Like Me?”), the abduction of a new born baby (“Song Without a Name”) or the death of a husband (“Venezia”) – and reacting, in multifarious fashions.

“Do You Like Me?” has a thriller edge. Three more, underscoring Latin American cinema’s current broad range, show Latin American filmmakers enrolling mainstream beats to appeal beyond traditional arthouse audiences in more accessible titles, whether in an unusual immigration drama (“Marionette”), or via empathy with a challenged protagonist (“The Friendly Man”) or a straight-up coming of age tale (“This Is Not Berlin”).

Set in Buenos Aires’ housing projects, “Do You Like Me?” starts as a crime thriller, then bucks generic commonplaces as it delivers a numbing gender violence and revenge drama. Authentic in setting, observance of daily...