Film buffs snap up Shanghai Film Festival tickets
A still from "My Life to Live" or "Vivre Sa Vie" by Jean-Luc Godard.
A still from John Woo's "A Better Tomorrow."
Tickets for most Shanghai film festival screenings sold out early on Friday.
Tickets for the Film Panorama section of the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival went on sale at noon today.
Within an hour, 309,000 tickets for 425 screenings were sold on the online ticketing site Taopiaopiao, accounting for almost one-third of the festival's 1,200 screenings.
The Shanghai International Film Festival runs from June 9 to June 18.
Around 256,000 moviegoers purchased tickets on Taopiaopiao between noon and 1pm on Friday.
Around 400 classic films and new movies in 16 categories will be shown at 41 cinemas, including the Shanghai Film Art Center, UME International Cineplex, Paradise Warner Cinema City, and Wanping Theater. Moviegoers can also buy tickets at the theater.
Film Panorama is the traditional and eye-catching program of the festival. A large number of movie fans travel from neighboring provinces to watch some of the screenings.
This year's festival includes the 4K screening of Jean-Luc Godard's "My Life to Live," the Dolby Vision version of "The Godfather," the 4K version of "Gone with the Wind," the drama film "Close," the 4K version of John Woo's "A Better Tomorrow," the IMAX version of the documentary film "Moonage Daydream," the sci-fi adventure film "The Suicide Squad," and the animated film "Evangelion."
Stanley Yuan, a college student and moviegoer, bought tickets for the South Korean thriller film "Memories of Murder" and the 4K version of Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Last Emperor."
"I prepared ahead of time by studying the screening schedule with a friend so as not to miss those wonderful films at the festival," Yuan said. "I feel so fortunate to have gotten these tickets."
Within an hour, 309,000 tickets for 425 screenings were sold online, accounting for almost one-third of the festival's 1,200 screenings.
