For a TIFF mired in controversy over special ticket lines for special people and urgent fund-raising for Bell Lightbox, an impressive program translated into a successful indie film market.

That’s the consensus of film sellers and buyers, who, while doing fewer deals for fewer dollars compared to past years, left Toronto satisfied.

‘The market began quietly, and ended quietly. But by the end of the first weekend, we picked up some gems,’ said one buyer privately.

Among the last big titles to go were Summit Entertainment paying around $1.5 million for the U.S. rights to Kathryn Bigelow’s Iraq war action movie The Hurt Locker, and IFC Films snapping up the North American distribution rights to Steven Soderbergh’s Che after the four-hour historical epic was expected to go to Magnolia.

IFC also picked up Swedish director Jan Troell’s Everlasting Moments.

The big deal of the festival was Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, featuring a comeback performance from Mickey Rourke, going to Fox Searchlight after a bidding contest on the Sunday night was not resolved until Monday morning.

But for the most part, few films were actually bought on the ground in Toronto, as deals were done prior to TIFF, or through output deals. Typical of these were twin six-picture deals that Maximum Films unveiled from output suppliers Cinetic Media and Fortissimo Films.

The consensus is that more realistic prices were paid in Toronto for titles gleaned from the festival lineup, in contrast to former years, when buyers paid over the odds for films that did not pan out in the marketplace.

Also expected to go by the end of the festival are two documentaries: Every Little Step, a look at the theatrical sensation A Chorus Line from James Stern and Adam Del Deo, and the Paris Hilton-inspired Paris, Not France.

On Thursday it was announced that the feature urban love story Nurse.Fighter.Boy by Charles Officer, produced through the Canadian Film Centre, had been picked up by Mongrel Media for Canada and Paris-based REZO Films for international sales.

‘Both companies are clearly passionate about the film and we are all thrilled to be working in partnership with the Mongrel and REZO International sales team just days into TIFF,’ said Justine Whyte, executive producer and director of the CFC Feature Film Project, who negotiated the deal on behalf of CFC.

There were otherwise few deals for Canadian films announced at the fest.

The Toronto International Film Festival wraps on Saturday with the gala screening of Charles Martin Smith’s Canada/U.K. copro caper film Stone of Destiny.