The Historical History of Canada by Jakob Skrzypa is a four-episode series playing at WIFF on Nov. 1. It has done so well in pre-sales, the viewing has been moved from the Kelly Theatre to the larger Pentastar Theatre at the Capitol. “I hear we sold out in just over four days, crazy, and the physical box office hadn’t even opened yet. Now we’re trying to sell out a much bigger theatre so I hope people will come out and support the show,” Skryzypa told CTV News. WIFF Executive Director Vincent Georgie says the opening film, Paper Tiger, a gangster film with Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, has seen a 500 per cent increase in pre-sale over last year’s opener. Their closer features Julianne Moore in a comedy called The Debut, which is the top seller so far. “Our pre-sale for this year has been phenomenal. Tickets are moving very, very fast,” Georgie said. “We’re forecasting, we’re only in early October, we’ll be sold out before festival starts so we’ve seen this major uptake in ticket sales and just activity and excitement.” According to Tourism Windsor-Essex Pelee Island CEO Gordon Orr, WIFF reported 50,000 people came to see a movie last year. “And of the 50,000, 8,250 of them were from out of town, which represents about 17 per cent of their business,” Orr said. Last week, WIFF announced Lorraine Bracco of the movie Goodfellas and the crime drama series The Sopranos is coming to the festival. “Right now, as of the current numbers, we’re over 30 per cent. It’s going to be a very big jump and again we put a lot of effort into our marketing, our promotion and building a great festival that’s reputable,” Georgie said. Katie Stokes is a big fan of WIFF not only on a personal level. “I’m a business owner in the vicinity of the theatre,” said Stokes, who owns Whiskyjack Boutique on University Avenue West. “It’s also an important time of the year for us as well. We get a lot of support from patrons as well as from the festival itself. It’s just great to be part of the downtown vibe and the community around it.” Local filmmakers like Skrzypa appreciate how WIFF has impacted their life and film community. “Now there’s like 20 to 30 great filmmakers just in Windsor and our city. It’s just incredible,” he said.
