Marco Kreuzpaintner's coming out tale Sommersturm and Dennis Gansel's World War II drama Napola, which received its world premiere in competition atKarlovy Vary on July 4 (Sunday), created a buzz among international buyersattending the Munich Previews during this year's Munich Film Festival.

One Scandinavian distributor told ScreenDaily.com that the two films - which are both handled byBavaria Film International - "definitely have a potential in cinemasoutside of Germany."

The exporters who had films screening over the three days ofthe Previews called the event "a great success". "It was aclever move to bring the Previews from the time around the Oktoberfest toduring the Munich Film festival," said Wolfram Skowronnek of Cinepool/Telepool."Next year, it would be good to also have distributors from Switzerlandand Austria here as well."

He pointed out that the timing of the Previews had beenideal for finalising contracts for deals that had been put into motion atCannes. In Cinepool's case, for example, he had been able to conclude deals forSherry Hormann's gay football comedy Balls (Maenner Wie Wir) which will be distributed theatrically in Germanythis autumn by Buena Vista International.

This year, over 30 European distributors and TV buyersattended the Previews, including representatives from Miramax, Fine Line,Nonstop Entertainment, MK2 and the UK's City Screen chain.