IFF helps fuel boom in movie going

IFF helps fuel boom in movie going

By Lourdes Quijada

IN SPITE OF the expansion  of home entertainment via  the likes of Netflix and YouTube, sharing the viewing of movies as a member of an audience is a growing trend in Panama and more cinemas  are coming on stream to meet the demand.

Some 5.75 million movie tickets were sold in Panama in 2015, up from just over 5 million in 2014,  according to the annual report of the Association of Film Distributors.

The  Panama International Film Festival,(IFF)  played its role in boosting attendance and raising awareness of the joys of  movie going.

The Festival saw attendance increase to 28,000 in 2015, 6,000 more than in 2014, in spite of a partial clash with the Summit of the Americas which raised concerns over traffic.

Central America in general saw an increase in attendance, said Miguel Joseph, president of the Association of Film Distributors and regional manager of United International Pictures (UIP).

In the United States and Canada, the largest film markets on the continent, ticket sales also hit a record in 2015, with a box office of $11.1 billion, 7.4 percent more than in 2014 and exceeding the previous record set in 2013 of $10.9 billion.

In Panama, the growth is attributed to both the growing economy and population and the increase in the number of theaters.