Spain's Filmax Entertainment has sold North Americandistribution rights on English-language thriller The Kovak Box to First Look Studios.

Timothy Hutton stars as a novelist in Spain for a conferencewho finds himself drawn into a string of suicides eerily similar to the plot ofone of his books. The thriller recently picked up the audience award atSweden's Lund International Fantastic Film Festival.

Daniel Monzon (The Warrior's Heart, The Biggest RobberyNever Told) directed the film, whichco-stars David Kelly and Lucia Jimenez, from a script he co-wrote with JorgeGuerricaechevarria, Alex de la Iglesia's regular collaborator.

Kovak was produced by Filmax's Castelao Productions andEstudios Picasso, the production arm of Spanish broadcaster Telecinco.

The deal on the title was negotiated by Filmax head ofinternational Rafael Cabrera, head of sales Vicente Canales and CEO CarlosFernandez, and First Look's senior vice president of acquisitions Andy Reimerand vice president of legal affairs Brenda Anderson.

"We are proud to be working with Filmax on this excitingtitle," Henry Winterstern, CEO of First Look Studios, said in a statement. "Wehope this is the first of many films that First Look and Filmax will handletogether in the future."

"We have been looking for a project for some time now onwhich to work with First Look Entertainment, and we are delighted that, with TheKovak Box, we have finally found the righttitle on which to build a successful relationship, for the present and thefuture," the Filmax team added in the statement.