Miramax Filmshas reached an agreement with Spain's beleaguered Lauren Films whereby Laurenwill continue to handle the 18 as yet unreleased Miramax titles it had acquiredfor Spain and also exploit the library of Miramax titles it has amassed overthe last decade in business with the US company.

Miramax COO RickSands told ScreenDaily on Friday that he is pleased to have reached a resolutionwith Lauren, and that the arbitration that had been filed against the Spanishcompany has been stayed pending further payment of debt.

The resolutioncomes a week after it was reported that Miramax had closed an agreement withsister company Buena Vista International (BVI) to handle upcoming Miramaxproduct in theatrical and video/DVD including Cold Mountain.

Sands said that the agreement with Lauren was madepossible by aggressive manoeuvres on the part of new chief executive FrancescGuardans who has taken over the running of the company from Lauren founderAntonio Llorens. That includes a significant payment to Miramax of funds owed."So far he's done what he's said he's going to do," said Sands.

Lauren now has 18 months' worth of Miramax titles torelease in Spain including The Adventures Of Pinocchio and Duplex. It has also been allowed by Miramax to exploit the library withrespect to TV, although Chicago, Frida and The Hours areexcluded from the library agreement.

"The industryappreciates that we're making good progress in stabilizing the company, turningit around and getting it back on track quickly," said Guardans. With thebacking of a series of banks and financial institutions, Lauren hasrestructured its outstanding debt of Euros 90m over 13 years and securedadditional facilities worth Euros 30m.

"We are meetingthe goals we set out to accomplish, including getting back on good terms withMiramax."

Jennifer Green in Madrid contributed to this report