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Exclusive: HBO has taken U.S. rights to animated kids film Lino 3D from Argentine outfit FilmSharks. The Brazilian movie was bought for HBO and label HBO Latino and now has an English-language version.

Rafael Ribas’ toon pic follows an entertainer at children’s parties who is determined to change his life. When he visits a wizard, the magic doesn’t work in the right way, but he soon wakes up as a big cat. The $7M-budgeted film was produced Fox International Productions and Brazilian outfit Start Anima. English-language voice cast includes Sunny Hatziargyri, Carolyn Janis and Peter Rundle.

The film, which has already been released in markets including Mexico (where it opened on more than 400 screens), France, Germany, Korea, Russia, Spain and Italy, has also sold to Cinemas Guzzo for Canada with a minimum 50 screen commitment. A China deal is advanced discussions.

You can check out the film’s first English-language trailer here.

FilmSharks Intl. has licensed Rafael Ribas’ toon pic “Lino 3D,” a comedy-adventure from Brazil’s Start Anima and Fox Intl. Prods., to Dark Side Distribution in Mexico, where the film will open on a large 450-screen spread.

The deal is a key one: Mexico is traditionally the third-biggest market in the world for theatrical animation, trailing the U.S. and China, according to a European Audiovisual Report.

“Lino 3D” has clinched multiple other new deals, with Smart Media acquiring all rights to German-speaking Europe, while Paycom Media has picked up Spanish distribution rights. It plans a first quarter 2019 theatrical release in Spain, said FilmSharks Intl.’s Guido Rud.

FilmSharks has also closed Argentina (Bf Paris) and Central America (Vista Entertainment). The licensing pacts add to announced deals for Italy (Sony), France (ProgramStore), Russia/Cis (Big Film) and South Korea (Hammer Pictures), of major territories sold. Deals mark part of the...

Exclusive: Argentinian rom-com An Unexpected Love (El Amor Menos Pensado) featuring Latin giants Ricardo Darin and Mercedes Moran — who are both in Cannes with different movies — has been picked up on promo at the market for France, Russia and Israel.

Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks has closed deals with Eurozoom for France, Big Film for Russia and Cis and Nachson Film for Israel. This follows deals announced yesterday with Filmax for Spain, Alpha Films for Brazil, Wiesner Distribution for Central America, Cinecolor for Peru, Colombia and Chile, Av Jet for Taiwan, and Feelgood for Greece. Additional deals are pending. As previously announced, Buena Vista International will launch the movie in South America in August on more than 300 prints.

In the Spanish-language movie, The Secret In Their Eyes star Darin and La Cienaga actress Moran play a married couple who try to separate and realize they preferred life when they were together. Juan Vera directs.

Brazil’s Directors’ Fortnight entry “Los Silencios” typifies a growing breed of Brazilian films, shot in multiple locations and in co-production with one or more countries. Beatriz Seigner’s cross-border drama about a Colombian family fleeing the armed conflict in their native country was co-produced by Seigner’s Miriade Filmes and Leonardo Mecchi’s Enquadramento Prods. (“The Trial”), along with France’s Cine-Sud Promotion and Colombian shingle Dia-fragma.

“We shot mainly in Colombia so the key crew members were Colombian — and mostly women,” says Cine-Sud’s Thierry Lenouvel, who is co-producing Anita Rocha’s next film, “Medusa,” with Vania Catani’s Bananeira Filmes and is boarding two other Brazilian films in development: Dezenove’s Vietnam-set “The Paths of My Father” by Mauricio Osaki and BossaNovaFilms’ “To Our Children,” by actress-helmer Maria de Medeiros.

Co-producing Argentine helmer Lucrecia Martel’s acclaimed period drama “Zama” “was a lot of work but the rewards were high,...