Strong participation at TIFF
Despite that this year’s edition of the film festival had to be held as mainly an online event, a lot of people got to experience quality films both inside and outside during TIFF this January.
Publisert 26.03.2021 — John-Kristian Dalseth
After an extensive count the film festival can now determine that the total number of audiences at TIFF 2021 was 36 128. This is a figure that the organizers are pleased with and proves that a large number of the festival’s audience took part in the changeover from physical screenings and events to watching films from home on TIFF’s digital platform. More detailed numbers to follow.
- We’re very happy that so many participated at TIFF, despite the festival turning out to be something completely different than originally planned. We apparently have a loyal and adaptive audience. We also managed to reach a lot of new audiences through the digital format, says festival director Lisa Hoen.
On January 9, just over a week before the film festival was set to begin, it was determined that this year’s edition of TIFF had to be an online event due to updated restrictions from the Government regarding Covid-19 prevention. The only physical venue to remain would be the festival’s traditional Winter Cinema, outdoors at the city’s main square. Here we put on 17 screenings which could each have a maximum of 200 people in attendance for each screening. The festival’s official opening film Ninjababy had its premiere at the Winter Cinema, as well as two other Norwegian film premieres and several screenings for the city’s kindergarten and elementary schools.
- We’re proud that we were able to have the World Premiere of the two Norwegian films Ninjababy and Him at the Winter Cinema. The audience in Tromsø knows how to dress warm for this cold venue, so they had no problem sitting outside while enjoying the film. It was important for us to maintain the Winter Cinema as a venue this year, as it gave both us and the audiences a meeting point, as well as providing a high visibility of the festival in the city centre, says Hoen.
The beforementioned total number of audiences breaks down like this:
There were 29 623 people in total on our VOD (Video on Demand) screenings online. This number is calculated from the number of tickets sold and the average number of viewers per ticket, in accordance with TIFFs audience questionnaire.2225 people attended screenings at the Winter Cinema.
All in all, with school screenings, VOD ticket sales and attendance at the Winter Cinema the total number of registered tickets was 20 264.
There were 6256 unique participants at TIFF 2021, meaning the amount of individual ticket buyers on VOD and at the Winter Cinema.
TIFF put on several live streamed events during the festival, including filmmaker Q&A’s, talks with guests and others. A total of 6450 people tuned in to these live streams. Please note: this number is not inclued in the official registered number of audiences mentioned above.
The program at TIFF 2021 presented 110 film titles. Out of these 58 were feature films (including 54 as part of the online VOD program). 28 short films were also screened in the VOD program as part of the festival’s Films from the North program. At the Winter Cinema 24 different short films were screened during the morning and evening shows. 70 VOD screenings were made available to the public on TIFF’s digital platform.
- We learned a lot about VOD and the live streaming of events during TIFF, and the audience have shown us that they’re interested in this kind of content. Even though TIFF first and foremost is a meeting point for joint experiences in person we do plan to try out having a smaller online program for the next edition of the festival in 2022, concludes festival director Lisa Hoen.
The 32nd edition of TIFF takes places in Tromsø on January 17-23, 2022.
Watch a video of highlights from this year's festival!
