Habanero Sells ‘Pseudo’ to HBO/HBO Max & ‘Rock, Paper & Scissors’ to HBO Central Europe (EXCLUSIVE)

Rio de Janeiro-based Habanero Film Sales has licensed  U.S. rights to political thriller “Pseudo” to the HBO platforms, The pact was negotiated by Leslie Cohen, senior VP content acquisitions HBO/HBO Max, and Habanero CEO Alfredo Calvino.

Habanero has also sold the linear and streaming rights to 2019 Argentine horror-thriller “Rock, Paper and Scissors” (“Piedra, Papel y Tijera”) to HBO Central Europe.

Co-written and helmed by Bolivian Gory Patiño and Spain’s Luis Reneo, “Pseudo” turns on a taxi driver who gets caught up in an operation fraught with danger when he steals the identity of a passenger.

The thriller will be theatrically released in Bolivia this year, given that its initial release dates were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

“Pseudo” is Patiño’s second feature, his debut feature “Muralla,” (“The Goalkeeper”), also acquired by HBO back in 2019, was the highest-grossing Bolivian film in 15 years.

Both ‘Muralla’ and ‘Pseudo’ were picked up by Somos TV, which will continue its distribution in the U.S., once its HBO exclusive license ends.

“Rock, Paper and Scissors,” co-written and directed by Macarena García Lenzi and Martín Blousson, is a darkly comic thriller that revolves around two unhinged siblings who get caught up in a bloody feud over their family inheritance when their half-sister shows up.

Digitally released in the U.S. by Dark Star Pictures on July 6, it will bow on HBO Central Europe following a robust festival run that has included U.K.’s FrightFest, the U.S.’s FantasticFest and Brooklyn Horror Fest, Mexico’s Mórbido Fest, Buenos Aires’ Rojo Sangre, and Fantaspoa, Brazil, where the film cleaned up at the awards, winning best Ibero-American Film, director, screenwriter and actress.

“’Pseudo’ and ‘Rock, Paper & Scissors’ are part of our plans to add more Latino American genre titles,” said Habanero’s Calvino, noting that its 2021 slate also includes Argentine erotic thriller “The Attachment Diaries” by Valentin Javier Diment and Cuban sci-fi drama “Blue Heart” by Miguel Coyula.

Calvino closed world sales rights to both “Pseudo” and “Muralla” at Ventana Sur in 2018 where he granted the Habanero award to “Pseudo,” which competed in THE Havana Festivals’s Works in Progress section.