The Academy Award nomination for the German entry Nowhere In Africa led to immediate business at the European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin for Bavaria Film International.

"A couple minutes after the announcement, we closed a deal with the Greek distributor Rosebud," says Bavaria head of sales Thorsten Schaumann,

Producer Andreas Bareisz also hopes the film's US opening in New York on March 7 will profit from the nomination. It is being distributed by Zeitgeist in the US.

The film was produced with a total budget o f Euros 7.6m and generated 1.3m viewers in Germany .Further sales for Nowhere In Africa include A-Film in the Benelux countries.

Other German films to perform well at the market include German Competition entry Goodbye, Lenin! which has been sold to France (Ocean Film) and Japan (Gaga Communication).

Another success is scored by student producer Georg Gruber and the director trio Chris Stenner, Heidi Wittlinger and Arvid Uibel whose short film Das Rad received a nomination for an Academy Award. "That is the third time in a row that a student film from the Film Academy Ludwigsburg has been nominated for the Oscar", says creative director Arthur Hofer.