Film Festival pushes forward despite name setback

The Philadelphia Film Festival/Cinefest starts today. Despite the name change, brought on by a rancorous fight among top management that nearly led to cancellation of the festival things seem to be going smoothly.

The Philadelphia Film Festival/Cinefest starts today. Despite the name change, brought on by a rancorous fight among top management that nearly led to cancellation of the festival things seem to be going smoothly.

Transcript:
From what Ray Murray says, the hybrid name of the film festival seems like a meaningless relic of a tiff between festival managers. Murray is artistic director of the festival.  He says the venues, types of films and format of the festival are basically identical to last year.

Murray: “A lot of people are confused, but we try to keep them, saying, ‘hey, it’s the same it ever was.’ So, in the odd way, a lot of the controversy that preceded the film fest has generated a lot of interest”

Murray says ticket sales are up 10 to 15 percent from this time last year, with opening night already sold out. While the plan is to split the festival in two events next year, with Cinefest in the spring and Philadelphia Film Festival in the fall, Murray says he believes top management is likely to reconcile.

Listen:
Click on the play button below or right click on this link and choose “Save Link As” to download. [audio: arts20090326film.mp3]