Manila City Hall cuts down Cinemanila fest ticket prices

Manila City Hall cuts down the price of tickets for the local digital films showing at the 7th Cinemanila Festival by half to increase number of movie viewers.

In a statement, Manila Mayor Lito Atienza said he is hoping that moviegoers would take advantage of the 50 percent discount that takes effect today and until Wednesday. From the original ticket price of P100, the tickets would be sold for only P50 for the next three days.

He is hoping that the move would draw bigger crowds.

"We want to encourage more moviegoers, especially students, to watch quality films and patronize our very own. This is our way of helping the local firm industry especially in these trying times," Atienza said.

The eight local films being featured in the 13-day run of Cinemanila are "Ala Verde Ala Pobre," "Ang Daan Patungong Kalimugtong," "Cut," "Dilim," "Ilusyon," "Matthew, Mark, Luke and John," "Trabaho," and "Tuli."

The Mayor envisions reviving the grandeur of the local movie industry. With the theme "Buhayin ang Pelikulang Pilipino," Cinemanila aims to support independent, innovative and quality local films.

Under his administration, the City Council cut the amusement taxes from 30 to 15 percent and is even willing to scrap the tax if theater owners would reconsider the mayor’s proposal to reduce the ticket prices for local movies.

Atienza had met with officials of movie theaters and half of them support his proposal for a 50 percent cut in ticket prices.

He believes that the film industry is not moving forward and is not able to compete with its foreign counterparts because it is overburdened with taxes.

Some theater owners and operators however expressed apprehension that selling tickets at lower prices would redound to lower sales.

Atienza explained that on the contrary it would even improve sales because more people would prefer to watch quality local films rather than spend their hard earned money on international films.

He is also optimistic that once this proposal is implemented in Manila, it would trigger a "snowball effect" and other cities and municipalities in Metro Manila would follow.

The House of Representatives may also sponsor bills that would benefit the local film industry.