Film festival attracts 65,000 to area venues

The 2005 Philadelphia Film Festival -- which ended Wednesday -- saw a 6.7 percent increase in attendance from last year.

More than 65,000 people attended the festival this year, up from around 61,000 last year, according to the festival's chief organizer, the Philadelphia Film Society.

Exact revenue figures have not yet been released because final figures are still being tabulated, Film Society spokesman Andrew Preis said. He added that many tickets were distributed on a complimentary basis to festival organizers and major sponsors.

"We thought [the festival] was especially strong," Preis said. "We're gratified that the region responded to the programming this year."

Preis credited the increase in attendance to increased media coverage and word-of-mouth advertising.

"The Film Festival has grown each year, so there is word of mouth, there is a buzz about it," he said.

Preis said he was impressed not just by the number of people attending the festival, but by the diversity of attendees as well.

"The audiences didn't look like film festival audiences usually look," Preis said. "Some films brought in much younger viewers, [a demographic] we've never been able to broach before."

Among those younger viewers was College sophomore Amani Hirr, who saw one film, and College senior Adam Burgos, who saw nine.

Hirr saw the German film Downfall, which tells the story of the final days of Adolf Hitler in his bunker beneath Berlin.

"It was very, very good, but it was intense," Hirr said. "I actually really enjoyed it even though it was a really long film and I was expecting it to be hard to sit through."

Hirr said the two-and-a-half-hour film was extremely violent but was created tastefully and respectfully to the viewer.

"It didn't sugarcoat the violence ... but it was treated with respect," Hirr said.

Burgos said he enjoyed the festival experience, which was relatively new for him.

"I'm just kind of a film buff in general," he said. "I'd never attended a film festival until I was abroad last semester in Argentina."

Burgos, who especially enjoyed the Korean film Woman is the Future of Man, said that he would definitely attend the festival next year were he not graduating.

"Anyone who is interested and enjoys movies should check it out for at least a little bit," Burgos said.

Preis said that the Film Society is already starting to think about next year's festival, although he added that the intense action won't begin until after this summer's Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, which runs July 7 to 18.

The University held five on-campus events called the Cine Cafe series independent of the festival. The events were designed to bring scholars and movie-lovers together to discuss various aspects of cinema.

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