Start-up Spanish distributor Alquimia Cinema, run by former Aurum Producciones head Francisco Ramos, has acquired all Spanish rights on four big-name films from Alliance Atlantis Pictures International and one from Pandora Cinema.

From Alliance, Alquimia has picked up Lynne Ramsay's forthcoming Morvern Callar, Atom Egoyan's Ararat, Richard Kwietniowski's Owning Mahowny and Neil Jordan's Double Down. It bought one of the first films from Pandora's co-financing arrangement with Warner Bros, the $17m A Walk To Remember based on the novel by A Message In A Bottle author Nicholas Sparks.

The pick-ups follow a previous five-film deal with Alliance which included Denis Villeneuve's Maelstrom, Denys Alcand's Stardom, Billy Crudup-vehicle Jesus' Son, Shane Meadows' A Room For Romeo Brass and Destination Films' Slackers.

"These films, which complete our first 10 acquisitions, prolong my relationship with Alliance and begin a new relationship with Pandora," said Ramos. "Both relationships could lead to co-productions on forthcoming projects."

Ramos has also signed a deal with Hispano Foxfilm to handle physical distribution on Slackers and the first two productions out of Alquimia: Albacete Menkes' I Love You Baby and Ramon Salazar's feature film directorial debut Stones (Piedras). Digital satellite platform Via Digital has pay-TV rights to all productions and pick-ups out of Alquimia, while Ramos says he is negotiating free-TV deals for his acquisitions.

Ramos plans to acquire eight to ten "medium-budgeted" films per year through Alquimia, which is shaping up as a solid outlet for international indie product. Following the model he used to transform Aurum into one of Spain's hottest producers, Ramos is attracting young talent and commercially-edged projects for Alquimia's production arm. Other forthcoming productions include two English-language films: Manuel Toledano's A Happy Trail and Maria Ripoll's Utopia.