by Eugene Hernandez/indieWIRE

While European Film Market attendees are already buzzing about the anticipated move to the larger Martin-Gropius-Bau exhibition site next year, a 10-minute walk from the current crowded EFM site in Potsdamer Platz, the 2005 market is proving to be busy for some buyers and sellers. That said, other U.S. acquisitions folks are hoping that a few more titles deserving of a U.S. release will emerge.

A pair of French films has piqued some American buyer interest in the first few days of the Berlinale and the European Film Market. Jacques Audiard's "De battre mon coeur s'est arête" (The Beat That My Heart Slipped), the story of young concert pianist criminal yearning for true love, is seen as a Berlinale film that will likely find U.S. theatrical distribution. While it will have its festival debut for attendees and press later in the week, many buyers screened the movie over the weekend at a special screening for acquisitions folks. Starring Romain Duris, Aure Atika, Emmanuelle Devos, and Niels Arestrup, the movie will screen in its Berlinale competition slot on Thursday here in Germany.

While European Film Market attendees are already buzzing about the Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau's "Crustacés et coquillages" (Mariscos Beach), a funny French farce about family on a summer holiday along the Cote d'Azur, had Berlinale crowds cheering at its primetime showing in the Panorama section on Saturday night. Buyers who watched the film this weekend were keen on its prospects back home and some of the many film festival programmers in town were also eyeing it as target. Ducastel & Martineau's latest, starring Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Gilbert Melki, Jean-Marc Barr, Jacques Bonnaffé, Edouard Collin, and Romain Torres, is the story of two French parents (Bruni-Tedeschi and Melki) who escape their two kids to the South France for the summer.

While their daughter quickly runs off to Portugal with a boyfriend, their teenaged son entertains a pal at the summer cottage. Immediately getting the idea that their son is gay and the cute friend is his young lover, the parents quickly accept the situation and watch as the youthful relationship seems to blossom. Toying with the parent's emotions, the two boys enjoy the attention but as the plot unfolds, it turns out that mom and dad are the ones who have the real secrets. All of this is played for laughs; with even a pair of musical numbers tossed in for good measure, and the result is a feel-good, crowd-pleaser.

Otherwise, few films have created significant interest according to our informal survey of buyers at evening parties or in the halls of the EFM. Over coffee at the jammed Starbucks in Potsdamer Platz Sunday, one U.S. acquisitions exec told indieWIRE that few of the first weekend titles were causing much interest among buyers, and underscored that, barring a surprise breakthrough, there are not many other anticipated movies left for dealmakers.

Pacts that have emerged seem to be centered on Sundance films, or scripts seeking financing. Sony Picture Classics is a busy company of late. In Berlin for the festival, Michael Barker has closed deals for Sally Potter's "Yes," Erik Van Looy's "The Alzheimer Case" and an upcoming Zhang Yimou film entitled, "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles," according to the Berlinale festival daily from Screen International. The pacts are on the heels of two Sundance deals for SPC, the acquisitions of Phil Morrison's "Junebug" and Mike Mills "Thumbsucker," also a Berlinale competition title.

Berlinale Panorama section title, "The Devil and Daniel Johnston," a Sundance doc competition entry, has found a UK home, landing at Tartan Films, according to Screen's festival daily, while Cinetic Media is in the still in the process of securing a U.S. deal for the movie.

Lions Gate International, which celebrated its Berlinale competition film "Hotel Rwanda" here in Germany on Friday night, announced an extension of its horror brand to include internationally produced titles. The international arm of Lions Gate announced that it has worldwide rights (not including the U.K., France and North America) for Billy O'Brien's "Isolation," recently shot in Ireland. The U.K. - Irish co-production is being pre-sold here at the EFM by LGI.

"'Isolation' is a great addition to our current slate as we extend our search internationally for new features in this genre," said Nick Meyer, President of Lions Gate International, in a statement. "As with 'Saw', and previously 'Cabin Fever', as well as our J-Horror series, we continue to offer our international buyers commercially viable horror titles."

In other deals reported in the dailies, Paramount Classics has sold its international rights, outside of Australia and New Zealand, to "Mad Hot Ballroom" to Fortissimo Film Sales. Palm Pictures will release the Brazilian TV series "City of Men" in North America, along with Pen-ek Ratanaruang's "Invisible Waves," according to the Screen festival daily.

One country rep that chatted with indieWIRE at lunch today in Berlin noted that the bigger market site next year would certainly ease the crowding of booths that is evidenced over at the EFM in 2005. The market saw a major jump in attendance: 165 companies are represented (that’s a 38% jump over '04), 530 films are showing (a 33% increase), and 52 company booths (a 21% bump) are set up in the 3,500 square meters of the Daimler Chrysler Atrium at Potsdamer Platz. The new EFM site at Martin-Gropius-Bau can accommodate hundreds of companies in its two-floors of space.