Pusan Film Fest Sparks Fierce Food Fight
Published on | Source
As the 10-day Pusan International Film Festival got underway, so did the fight for tickets to the opening and closing films, which were reportedly going for up to 10 times the normal price.
The war for tickets has been especially intense on online auction sites, where tickets to the better-known films were already selling with markups so hefty that even the wealthier balked at some of the prices.
According to figures released Monday by the Pusan International Film Festival Executive Committee, over 230 of the 631 screenings were already sold out. On Friday, the first day the PIFF took reservations, over 20 films, including the festival opener "Three Times", were completely sold out, as were 56 other films that will see more than one screening. Last year's first day of sales, by contrast, yielded only one sellout.
After the PIFF's stores of tickets were exhausted, the opening and closing films of the festival, which feature both domestic and international stars, were especially hot in the ticket scalping market. When people contacted those who put their tickets up for sale, the price quoted was often up to 10 times the face value. Tickets for opening and closing films originally cost W10,000 (about US$10) but were being scalped for as much as W100,000, with the majority of transactions in the W50,000-60,000. Tickets to the other films, which originally went for W5,000, were selling for W40,000-50,000.
On the Auction website, some 20 postings were related to PIFF tickets. Ticket prices for ordinary screenings are on the rise, with the bid for four tickets to the opening film already hitting W200,000, and four tickets for "April Snow" starring Korean Wave figurehead Bae Yong-joon W120,000.
Since Friday, some 700 people have been struggling to buy and trade tickets on the PIFF homepage's ticket trading board
"Illegal tickets were sold last year too, but competition for tickets on the auction websites is new", says Kim Ji-seok, a PIFF programmer. "It can be seen as proof that PIFF is attracting more and more attention and gaining in popularity. But at the same time, I feel sorry that movie-goers lose a chance to attend the festival because of people who are just looking for financial gain".
The war for tickets has been especially intense on online auction sites, where tickets to the better-known films were already selling with markups so hefty that even the wealthier balked at some of the prices.
According to figures released Monday by the Pusan International Film Festival Executive Committee, over 230 of the 631 screenings were already sold out. On Friday, the first day the PIFF took reservations, over 20 films, including the festival opener "Three Times", were completely sold out, as were 56 other films that will see more than one screening. Last year's first day of sales, by contrast, yielded only one sellout.
After the PIFF's stores of tickets were exhausted, the opening and closing films of the festival, which feature both domestic and international stars, were especially hot in the ticket scalping market. When people contacted those who put their tickets up for sale, the price quoted was often up to 10 times the face value. Tickets for opening and closing films originally cost W10,000 (about US$10) but were being scalped for as much as W100,000, with the majority of transactions in the W50,000-60,000. Tickets to the other films, which originally went for W5,000, were selling for W40,000-50,000.
On the Auction website, some 20 postings were related to PIFF tickets. Ticket prices for ordinary screenings are on the rise, with the bid for four tickets to the opening film already hitting W200,000, and four tickets for "April Snow" starring Korean Wave figurehead Bae Yong-joon W120,000.
Since Friday, some 700 people have been struggling to buy and trade tickets on the PIFF homepage's ticket trading board
"Illegal tickets were sold last year too, but competition for tickets on the auction websites is new", says Kim Ji-seok, a PIFF programmer. "It can be seen as proof that PIFF is attracting more and more attention and gaining in popularity. But at the same time, I feel sorry that movie-goers lose a chance to attend the festival because of people who are just looking for financial gain".
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