Lolafilms UK, the UK production and international sales arm of Spanish production powerhouse Lolafilms, has enlisted LA talent agency Endeavor to represent North American sales on four of its upcoming pictures.

The deal, which was reached between Lolafilms president of sales Nicole Mackey and Endeavor's independent financing and international specialist Sergio Aguero, is a first for the Spanish company which recently sold a 70% stake to Telefonica Media, a subsidiary of telecommunications giant Telefonica.

The four films in the deal are:

  • Chris Monger's Girl From Rio, a romantic comedy starring Hugh Laurie which is currently in post-production.
  • Susan Seidelman's Gaudi Afternoon, a comic thriller featuring Judy Davis, Juliette Lewis, Lili Taylor and Marcia Gay Harden. Currently in post-production.
  • The Dancer Upstairs which marks the directorial debut of John Malkovich. The true story of a police detective who spent 12 years trying to catch the leader of Peru's Shining Path guerilla group. Set to start shooting on May 8.
  • Off Key, a parody of the three tenors which will star Joe Mantegna and Danny Aiello and be directed by Manuel Gomez Pereira. It will shoot in Paris, Mexico and New York starting June 1.

    • "We are thrilled to be in business with Andres [Vicente Gomez, Lolafilms chief], Nicole and Telefonica Media as they have launched the most ambitious film programme ever by a Spanish company," said Aguero in a statement. Since its establishment by four ex-ICM agents in 1995, Endeavor has become well-known as an aggressive, cutting edge agency. It snapped up The Blair Witch Project film-makers as clients before the movie premiered and handled the sale of the film to Artisan Entertainment when it did, at Sundance 1999.