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Kicking off on May 15-17 with the LA Independents, with a heavyweight Spanish-language presence, the LA Screenings then host Hollywood studio presentations. To help cut through the slates, – especially at the LA Independents but including some big studio plays – here’s Variety’s pick of 20 top titles:

“The Americas,” (NBCU, BBC Studios)

Narrated by Tom Hanks, his first unscripted narrator gig, and billed as an epic natural history series from “Planet Earth” producer BBC Studios Natural History Unit in association with Universal Television Alternative Studio. Scored by two-time Oscar winner Hans Zimmer and using groundbreaking technology to reveal the continent’s natural wonders. Previewed at MipTV, in a presentation which was one of the biggest events of the whole market.

“Amia,” (Dori Media Group)

Unfolding against the background of the terror attacks of 1992 on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires and in 1994 against Amia, the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association, the...

German sales outfit Patra Spanou Film (“Blue Moon”) has acquired international rights to “The Pleasure Is Mine” (“El Placer Es Mío”), the debut feature from Brazilian-born screenwriter and director Sacha Amaral, whose prior efforts on short “Billy Boy” earned him a slot at the Cannes Cinéfondation program in 2021.

The boutique sales agency has also shared an exclusive first-look teaser with Variety ahead of the drama’s premiere in international competition at this year’s Bafici in Buenos Aires, running April 17-28.

“Films from Argentina have been ruling the arthouse film scene for decades, and talents like Sacha Amaral are to thank for this. With ‘The Pleasure Is Mine,’ he created characters and places of raw beauty, intense and rich dialogues and a main character whose charm – despite his flaws – is irresistible,” Spanou told Variety.

“Audiences from all over the world can engage in the story of this young person, navigating his life without a compass,...