JIFFest: A feast for movie enthusiasts

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta International Film Festival (JIFFest) is likely to repeat last year's success and popularity with movie lovers, as evidenced by the many sold-out films during its opening on Friday.

"Tickets for 31 films have already sold out," Vashti Trisnawati Abhidana, the communications director of JIFFest 2001, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

People, however, still have a chance to see 13 other films, as limited seats are available at the box office at the respective theaters an hour before the show.

The tickets cost Rp 10,000 each.

The organizing committee began selling tickets on Oct. 17. On the second day, tickets for Jelangkung, an Indonesian horror movie, were sold out, while tickets for Dancer in the Dark, a film starring Bjork, were sold out within four days, according to Vashti.

Other big-name films with tickets still available are Traffic (Academy Award 2001), Memento, The Circle, Amelie from Montmartre, Almost Famous and Bread and Tulip.

This year's JIFFest is the third running and will last until Nov. 10.

"Last year, after the festival was over I was almost sick because every night I always went out to see the movies. And now, I surely want to see as many movies as I can," Joseph, a movie buff, told the Post as he got ready to watch Deep End at the PPHUI film center.

JIFFest 2001 will screen about 100 films from some 30 countries at the Djakarta Theater, TIM, the PPHUI film center, the Goethe Institute, Erasmus Huis and the Jakarta Arts Institute.

There will be 28 Indonesian films screened at the festival, picturing the country from the 1930s to the present.

For more information, please call (021) 325-113 or 325-115 or visit www.jiffest.com.