14 features and a program of 7 short films were on the menu at the 3rd French Film Festival in Japan, held in Tokyo and Osaka from March 13 through 17 this year.
Attendance
Film screenings were held in two locations in Tokyo:
> The Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills multiplex (5,092 admissions, achieving 85% of the cinema’s seating capacity)
> The Eurospace Shibuya complex (1,536 admissions, 44% of theater capacity)
The films were also showcased at Toho Namba cinema in Osaka from March 16 (1,214 admissions, 44% of theater capacity).Overall attendance at the French Film Festival reached 7,842 spectators.
Festival locations
The decision to base the Festival at the prestigious Roppongi Hills location attracted Japanese sponsors to the event. A survey conducted among audiences at Roppongi Hills revealed that the Festival had successfully won over local audiences, with 47% of moviegoers residents of the area, compared to 10% in Yokohama, and that the percentage of men attending the event finally showed an increase (33% against 27% in 2007). Concerning the age of patrons, thirty- and forty-year-olds accounted for the large majority (32% and 25% respectively), confirming that aims to appeal to younger audiences are yet to show results.
The difficulty to fill theaters in Osaka was no doubt attributable to the choice of dates for the event (falling on a Monday and Tuesday), which were adjusted to allow the French delegation to travel on to Tokyo following Osaka. Public Relations Work conducted with the Kadokawa Media House, the communications arm of the Kadokawa group (who were signed on by Toho Cinemas as part of a comprehensive contract covering theater rental and public relations for the festival) was effective thanks to the professionalism of their team. For the contract with Toho Cinemas, which led to considerable costs savings, efforts focused mainly on increasing the visibility of films in Toho theaters, including the purchase of a very large-scale water screen installed in the lobby of the Roppongi cinema.
The Jacques Rivette Retrospective at Eurospace (April 15-21)
1,536 spectators attended a total of 24 screenings, with attendance registered at 44% of theater capacity. In comparison with the Jacques Demy Retrospective in 2007, the Jacques Rivette films selected had longer running times which necessitated fewer screenings, thus leading to lower attendance figures, although attendance rates were higher in 2008 (41% of theater capacity in 2007).
