Game of Luck?

Michael Weber's phone started ringing when Bosnian film director Jasmila Zbanic was handed the Golden Bear last year.

"'Grbavica' sold much better afterwards," said Weber, who heads The Match Factory, which was in charge of selling the winning film of the 2006 Berlin International Film Festival.

The phone probably started ringing again on Saturday. While Weber's current Berlinale competition entry, "Yella" by German director Christian Petzold, didn't pick up the top prize, its star Nina Hoss took home the trophy for best actress.

"It all depends on what happens tomorrow night," Weber had said on Friday while sitting between packed-up boxes filled with promotional material in his company's booth at the European Film Market (EFM), where the buzz of previous days had already disappeared as most vendors were preparing to head home.

Bursting at the seams

One of the world's most important trading places for movies with some 19,000 attendees and 702 films on offer, the EFM picked up steam in recent years after the American Film Market in Los Angeles was moved from February to November. The market at the Cannes Film Festival meanwhile still rules supreme.

The boom in Berlin has led to some to complain that market organizers had to find a bigger venue to keep all vendors under one roof instead of spreading them out over several locations. According to news reports, EFM head Beki Probst has already hired a consultancy firm to help her figure out how to deal with growth of 10 percent to 15 percent next year.

Many meetings, slow sales?

Film industry trade magazines also quoted sellers and buyers, who were not impressed with the amount of business they had done at the market this year. But Weber joined others in saying that he had no reason to complain.

"We've had a lot of meetings," he said, adding that "Yella" has been sold to several countries -- including Switzerland, Austria, Portugal, Greece and Britain.

Exportable films

"Yella," which tells the story of an East German woman who goes to West Germany in search of a better life, has received good reviews in the German press even though some movie critics left the theater scratching their heads because of the film's twisted end.

Trade magazines such as The Hollywood Reporter and Screen even saw the film embarking on an international career.

"The elegant quasi-thriller chic of 'Yella' could prove (Petzold's) most exportable yet, if adventurous art house buyers take the bait," read a Screen review.

First Europe, then the world

Weber said that "Yella" would first have to sell well in Europe before going elsewhere.

"It's a little cold for Latin America," he said.

A certain bear-shaped trophy -- even Nina Hoss' silver one -- might change all that, of course.

"It's happened before that someone had to double their offer" after a film won awards, Weber said. "But it's also happened that someone revised an offer because of a bad review. It's a game of luck."