The Asian Film Market 2009, held on the sidelines of the Pusan International Film Festival ( PIFF), closed Thursday after its four-day run, expanding both in sales and participants.

This year's event brought forth "fruitful" achievements in terms of sales, with its total amount of deals estimated at approximately US$ 2 million, said the PIFF organizer's press release on Thursday.

Starting on October 11, the event ran for four days in the southern port city, attracting 75 firms from 25 countries and regions, according to the press release.

The Asian Film Market, held for the fourth time, showed an increase in various dimensions, including the number of sales offices, participating companies, and screenings.

This year, the sales grew 9 percent from last year's 41 percent to 45 percent, along with participating companies, which hit an annual growth of 4 percent, from 72 percent to 75 percent.

The number of films screened at the market also increased from 38 to 43, including 40 market premieres, which almost doubled in size from the previous year.

In particular, South Korea's market dominator CJ Entertainment and Japan's T-Joy announced the launching of a joint venture in Pusan.

At the close, the Asian Film Market announced that it will launch a new online market screening system and hold a producers' workshop with EAVE (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs) next year.

"Though still at a nascent stage, the Asian Film Market is growing into a key marketplace for film business," the organizers said.

The PIFF, which started on October 8 and will last till October 16, closing with Chen Kuofu and Gao Qunshu's "The Message."