Before the in-person events for the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival finished up this past weekend, HPR’s Noe Tanigawa joined The Conversation to talk about virtual reality versus fiscal reality.
In 2020, HIFF saw a massive increase in online viewership. But they're caught in a bind because online streaming has not brought in the same amount of ticket revenue as in-person screenings.
"If you look at our financial reports, the revenue from the tickets in 2020 is like half what it was in 2019 even though our audience theoretically tripled. It's a tricky balance," said Beckie Stocchetti, HIFF executive director.
"We were able to make up revenue through just additional grants and sponsorships — and cutting. We had to cut a lot of positions and so our staff is doing like three times as much work with half the number of people," Stocchetti told Hawaiʻi Public Radio.
Monetizing streaming services has been a tough nut to crack and nobody knows the future of movie theatres, she said.
Stocchetti has been working with a consultant all year to try and figure out how to continue reaching such a large audience while still making it work financially. Professional online viewing platforms are expensive, too, she said.
"Online isn't going to go away anytime soon. We've invested far too many resources that we can reach all these people," Stocchetti said.
Meanwhile, the film world is forging forward with new types of media. At HIFF this year, they started investing in XR, which is all the non-traditional types of media like virtual and augmented reality.
Stocchetti said XR is the future of storytelling — taking the digital world beyond the two-dimensional space.
Many HIFF films are still available online through Nov. 28. Click here for more information.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Nov. 19, 2021.
