With the Toronto International Film Festival using Ticketmaster to book seats this year, scalpers have descended on the fest and are jacking up the prices of screenings according to Variety.
The trade indicates tickets for high-profile films are already going for more than ten times their face value, and festivalgoers are understandably unhappy about the high resale prices.
Verified resale tickets to Hayao Miyazaki’s opening night film “The Boy and the Heron” and Taika Waititi’s “Next Goal Wins” are reportedly both going for up to $306 U.S. dollars.
Even some esoteric titles with limited appeal, such as the nearly four-hour documentary “Youth (Spring)” about textile workers, are reportedly selling for around 65% above the regular asking price.
Writer and filmmaker Siddhant Adlakha brought attention to the resale prices earlier today, saying on Twitter: “It’s genuinely insane that people are allowed to buy and re-sell TIFF tickets pretty much the day they go on sale.”
Multiple reports on social media, such as from X user notable crab, indicate public tickets went on sale and were listed as sold out for multiple screenings in the span of just 2-3 minutes. Resale tickets, at much higher prices, were reportedly on sale within as little as five minutes.
