NYP | Tribeca Fest Dropping '08 Prices, Consolidating Venues

The New York Post reports today that the Tribeca Film Festival will lower its general ticket prices and consolidate its venues this year (dropping general ticket prices from $18 to $15 this year and launching packages with lower rates). "We tried to balance our budget by increasing ticket prices, which was a big mistake," festival co-executive director Nancy Schafer told the Post. "So we're listening to our customers." She and co-exec director Paola Freccero indicated that the fest will abandon most uptown Manhattan screenings, anchored this year mainly at Tribeca Cinemas, Pace College, Borough of Manhattan Community College, AMC Loews Village VII, the City Cinemas Village East, and AMC Loews 19th Street. Notably, Battery Park screenings near TriBeCa and showings at multiplexes on 34th St., the Upper East Side, Chelsea and others have been eliminated. To balance the budget for its upcoming festival (running April 23 to May 4 this year), the festival will drop the number of features to about 120 - 125, according to the New York paper. Last year, indieWIRE reported that the fest raised prices from $12 to $18 for a ticket, much higher than the prices at most other fests.