Festival Feels The Pinch In Wellington

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
4 August 2010

Festival Feels The Pinch In Wellington

Audience numbers at this year’s New Zealand International Film Festival in Wellington have fallen slightly on 2009.

Attendance in Wellington totaled 64, 945 compared to last year’s 68,162. Festival director Bill Gosden attributes the decline to the combined effects of economic caution and the loss of morning sessions at the Embassy Theatre.

“With the Embassy closed until lunchtime for earthquake strengthening work throughout the Festival this year we did lose valuable morning sessions. The clearest dip in attendance is the 2000+ decline in daytime admissions this year at the Embassy.” says Gosden.

“Response to the programme has been overwhelmingly good, with a gratifying degree of positive feedback. Early indications were that many Wellington Festival goers felt unsure of the programme and advance bookings were well below expectation. The explosion of social networking media has certainly helped the Festival this year as positive word-of-mouth from Auckland screenings had a visible impact on ticket sales in Wellington.” says Gosden.

Well-attended films included the Banksy documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, the World Premiere screening of Kiwi feature Predicament, I Am Love, and Italian romantic drama and underwater photography spectacle, Oceans.

/ends

© Scoop Media