How much are tickets for AFI Fest?

January 4, 2013 6:21 PM

I've never been to a film festival, but I'm really curious about AFI Fest since I'm taking steps to move to Los Angeles in the next five years and I don't really travel (so I can't go to bigger, similar festivals like TIFF or NYFF). How much do the tickets cost? Do you have to buy a different ticket for each screening? I'm curious how much money I should budget if I want to attend.
posted by JamesAtMidnight to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

It looks like it's possible to volunteer. Assuming you'd be living in Los Angeles, volunteering would make the festival effectively free for you to attend. I'm not sure exactly how many screenings you'd get to see, how many hours you have to volunteer, if there are other perks, etc. but seems worthwhile if you're not sure whether you'd be able to afford tickets otherwise.

I've been to a few New York Film Festival screenings in past years. If AFI is anything like that, you buy tickets per screening and don't need any kind of pass to have access. Tickets were expensive on par with going to a concert, the theatre, or any other large event. Under $50, probably, but more than it costs to just see a regular movie in a theatre. That said, the films I've seen at NYFF have been hotly anticipated major studio releases.

I've been to TriBeCa Film Festival screenings for free because I knew someone who had tickets they couldn't use. I'm pretty sure those tickets were less expensive, because they were for some sad indie movie nobody will ever see. (I hope.)

So it stands to reason that you could get bargain basement tickets to less hyped films at AFI for a very reasonable price.

This is all probably something you should wait until you live in Los Angeles to make firm plans about.
posted by Sara C. at 6:39 PM on January 4, 2013

Best answer: Tickets for AFI are actually free. You need to stay on top of the ticket lottery before the fest, and of showing up early to the screenings. Expect to get shut out of galas from time to time.
posted by eugenen at 10:46 PM on January 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The annoying thing about AFI tickets being free is that everyone gets them... but having a ticket is no guarantee of seeing the movie. For a big hot movie, you'll get a ticket, arrive two hours early, get in line... and still not ultimately get into the movie. For less prominent movies, it's less an issue.
posted by lewedswiver at 12:22 PM on January 5, 2013

Response by poster: Free? Great! Thanks for the info. I'm mostly interested in the smaller movies, anyway.
posted by JamesAtMidnight at 12:58 PM on January 5, 2013