By: J.S., STA
The 31st Ljubljana International Film Festival (LIFFe) has attracted numerous film buffs although it was held online this year due to anti-corona restrictions, the organisers said. A quarter of tickets were sold compared to previous years, but the 2020 programme was also heavily reduced, the festival’s director Simon Popek told the STA.
This year’s LIFFe, held between 11 and 22 November, sold some 12,500 tickets which compares to 48,000 last year, Popek said, noting that the likely number of viewers in 2020 stood at some 24,000 since a single ticket meant two viewers on average.
“This year, LIFFe was the first major online event, boasting popularity that sells, and we are extremely satisfied with this year’s iteration,” Popek said.
When it comes to the financial aspect, he pointed out that given a scale-down of the programme by three quarters and the number of tickets sold, the organisers were looking at similar results year-on-year.
The figures could be stepped up in the near future for the festival is yet to hold a retrospective of Federico Fellini films at the Slovenian Cinematheque when the epidemiological situation permits that.
Feature films that were initially meant to be screened at this year’s festival but did not make it into the programme after LIFFe was moved to the virtual realm completely will be either shown at next year’s LIFFe or will hit Slovenian cinemas over the next year.
The festival featured 23 feature films and 16 shorts. Most viewers watched the films online between 7pm and 10pm, the organisers told the STA.
Most in demand were Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round, Kitty Green’s the Assistant, Pjer Žalica’s Focus, Grandma, Ai Weiwei’s Coronation and Mohammad Rasoulof’s There Is No Evil.
Apples, a Greek-Polish-Slovenian co-production directed by Christos Nikou, meanwhile received the main 2020 LIFFe accolade, the Kingfisher Award.