Latin Quarter Distribution has acquired world sales rights to "Maltrato Animal" ("Animal Budget"), a Uruguayan crime thriller directed by José Dell'Acqua, following a screening at Locarno's First Look strand. The deal marks a step forward for a film still in post-production and helps raise the profile of Uruguay's emerging film industry, which the Agencia del Cine y el Audiovisual del Uruguay (ACAU) is working to build up internationally.

The film follows a Montevideo veterinarian who, ruined by Uruguay's 2002 economic crisis, turns to a clandestine network of illegal animal breeding and pharmaceutical dealing to survive, before an unexpected encounter offers him a possible way out. Developed over eight years and shot across four separate one-week stints, it was produced by Dell'Acqua and Germán Ormaechea with an entirely Uruguayan cast and crew, including several first-time department heads. Dell'Acqua said the film blends fiction with collective memory of the crisis generation, and welcomed Latin Quarter's involvement as a way to bring the project to audiences beyond Uruguay.