Online and Offline Ticketing Started for SIFF, with Tickets Hard to Come by

Tickets for Film Panorama of the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) officially went on sale online at 12 noon today, followed two hours later by the launch of offline tickets at all screening cinemas. This year's ticketing system has been tested and rehearsed several times in advance, to offer an extremely smooth ticketing experience. However, with the tickets enthusiastically sought after by fans, there are some not that fortunate as others.

425 sessions sold out in one hour online

To save fans from rushing for tickets early in the morning, online ticketing for this year's SIFF was rescheduled to Friday noon. As expected, the ticketing system was overcrowded with zealous fans as soon as tickets were available. According to the one-hour ticketing statistics released by ticketing platform Taopiaopiao, a total of 256,000 people logged into the system to buy tickets almost at the same time in the first hour, and during that period, 309,000 tickets were sold, with 425 sessions sold out! Coming with 1,467 screening sessions, this year's Film Panorama at SIFF is a true fest for movie-goers. Some fans have also joked in WeChat Moments that if they don't take any food, drink or sleep, they will be able to watch all the films in about one month. However, for many fans, despite the abundance of screening sessions, it is still hard to come by even one ticket. There is no lack of films whose tickets were snapped up in just 1 minute, such as A CITY OF SADNESS, MEMORIES OF MURDER, THE SILENT HOLY STONES, ALPHAVILLE, A STRANGE ADVENTURE OF LEMMY CAUTION, RANG ZONG, π, WOMAN-DEMON-HUMAN, COSMOS (theatre-version, prequel & postquel).

Before the official ticketing kicked off, the technical support team of SIFF's designated ticketing platform, Taopiaopiao, had conducted several rounds of stress tests on the platform. With the dedicated support of over 60 engineers, after system upgrades and related technical support, the portal of the event page can support 10W+ requests per second and the core ticketing link can respond to 2W+ requests per second, which delivers a smoother ticketing experience for the audience.

Technical support team of SIFF

Fans coming offline to enjoy the ritual

To make it convenient for elderly fans who are not skilled in using mobile phones to purchase tickets, major cinemas launched their offline ticketing channels two hours after the start of online ticketing. A plethora of fans came to the main venue, Shanghai Film Art Center, and the Hongqiao Art Centre, where more films will be screened, claiming that to buy paper tickets at the counter is the "rite of SIFF".

Fans lining up at Shanghai Film Art Center

Citizens buying tickets at the counter of Shanghai Film Art Center

Mr. Li, who is 86 years old this year, came to Shanghai Film Art Center early. Apart from buying film tickets, he also expected to find out the new look of Shanghai Film Art Center, which is by no means strange to him, after renovation. He told us that he originally lived nearby the studio but now moved far away, "but I come here every year to watch films presented by SIFF, so I still wanna get involved this time." He didn't know how to snatch tickets or pay with his mobile phone, so he handed two 100-yuan notes to the ticketing counter there and chose two tickets for WINNY on June 15 at 1 p.m. "I'm coming with my wife, and we’re not demanding with which movie to see. I’ve chosen hall 1 because it has more seats. "

86-year-old Mr. Li bought two tickets for Hall 1 of Shanghai Film Art Center with cash

Senior film fan Mei Haixing, who has never been absent from SIFF since its first edition in 1993, also appeared at Shanghai Film Art Center and was recognized by many fans and media. Mr. Mei, who has now moved to Songjiang to enjoy his retirement, had actually snagged his tickets online, and he made a special trip to the Shanghai Film Art Center only to print them out on the machine. He said, "It is great to come and meet old friends and feel the vibe of SIFF."

Senior film fan Mei Haixing at the ticketing site

An elderly gentleman with a suitcase at the site also drew a lot of attention. He said he now lives in the suburbs but enjoys watching films, "I don't like to buy tickets on my mobile phone. I still feel it makes a sense to buy tickets offline", he carefully went through the pages of the screening schedule at the ticketing counter and eventually bought tickets for a number of documentaries, for "I like watching documentaries. I think they’re quite realistic." After getting the tickets, he went back to the schedule display again and carefully compared the ticket information with the schedule, marking the specific times and halls with a pen on a small slip of paper.

At Hongqiao Art Centre, the scene was similar. An elderly man whose home is near the venue said he didn't know how to use a smartphone, so he opted to buy tickets offline, "I've been here once in the morning and just looked at the schedule to figure out which films I wanted to watch. It's very friendly to have such a channel for seniors to buy tickets offline."

Screening schedule at Hongqiao Art Centre in constant update

Young people also trying their luck offline

Interestingly, there were many young people at both Shanghai Film Art Center and Hongqiao Art Center. They, well aware of the online ticketing channels, came to the venue either to "get their tickets early", joking to "show off their physical tickets in WeChat Moments first", or to "see if they could be lucky enough to get some tickets".

At both venues, there were ticket taking machines specially deployed for SIFF, with noticeable guiding signs. At Hongqiao Art Center, most of the people who came to collect their tickets were young. They preferred to buy their tickets online and then "collect" them during off-peak periods, and some even hired a delivery boy to help them with the "mission".

Young people collecting tickets in advance at Hongqiao Art Center

However, another young male fan, Dong Ziqian, who scooped a ticket for EVANGELION: 3.0+1.0 online, also paid a visit to Shanghai Film Art Center. He was kind enough to take the underground from Pudong to "try his luck" for his friend, "he said that when he’s trying to buy the ticket online at noon, and he found that some seats were somewhat locked and thought that they might be reserved for the offline ticketing." Of course, as it turned out, the staff told him that "the online and offline ticket sources were synchronized" and it was impossible for him to get the ticket too. However, he still felt that the trip was worthwhile, "The first time I saw a film during SIFF in 2019 was at Shanghai Film Art Center. I had previously heard that it was undergoing a major renovation, and not long ago I read the news that it was being nicely renovated, so I wanted have a look in person too. The ticket I bought were for June 13, right in Hall 1, and I was told that it is the only Dolby Hall in Asia. Also, no matter whether I’m lucky enough to get the ticket for my friend, I will come and get a preview of the new venue."

Dong Ziqian, 22, trying his luck for his friend all the way from Pudong

The " renewed " Shanghai Film Art Center

Whether or not they are fortunate enough to secure their choice of tickets, citizens and film fans will still join us at SIFF, “a festival specially curated for film fans”, to experience the charm of life through film art.