Korean Job Discussion Forums

[moldenke]

PIFF (Busan International Film Festival) has a sleek-looking site to register for tickets, and it says, "For foreigners residing in Korea, please click Foreigners Residing in Korea tickets."

You can see it here: http://www.piff.kr/

There is, however, no such option. There's one for non-residents in which you can give your passport number but there are surcharges for non-Korean cards.

Essentially I want to use my ARC and Korean bank card, and I'm worried because the tickets tend to sell out pretty fast.

The phone numbers listed for help haven't been answering.

Anyone else encounter the same problem? Any advice would be appreciated!

[surfinROK]

I noticed the same problem and am in the same situation. It's unfortunate that the "foreigners residing in Korea" option stated doesn't exist. Considering the ticket reservation starts soon, I don't see them fixing this problem.

I called and asked about it... The woman (mostly likely a volunteer) said that our ARC numbers won't work. Possible ways around it include:

-registering through "Non-resident ticketing" which says it will include surcharges

-getting a Korean friend to let you use their ID number (주민등록번호) to register

-going to a Busan Bank to purchase the tickets (easy enough to do if you're in Busan, but not many branches in other cities)

I also wanted to register with my ARC and Korean account, but it looks like that won't be possible this year. Hope this helps and good luck getting tickets. It really is an awesome event.

[moldenke]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm considering having a friend help me, but since she's not going to the festival, it's not ideal (using her credit card, borrowing her ID for the whole weekend to pick up the tickets, making her reserve the tickets just as they become available at 9 am).

What a hassle.

Furthermore, if I remember the online process last year correctly, you have to select a screening, take it to the checkout screen, and then pay for it film by film.

I'm not looking forward to the stress of the ticketing, but the fest will be great. Enjoy!

[j20kim]

Sorry, I haven't tried reserving tickets online this year. However, I was able to reserve tickets last year with my ARC and Korean check card, but through the PIFF's Korean language site. If you can ask a Korean friend to help you out with ticketing, you should be able to reserve your tickets under your name. And, yes, I do remember paying 500won per ticket I reserved.

[Hotwire]

If you go the 1st weekend you can usually get most of the tickets you want in Busan. I can't be bothered faffing around with the internet reservations so each yr I just turn up and get what I can and it usually works out fine.

You used to be able to get your tickets at MEGABOX in COEX - they had a booth there.

Anyone know if that's still the case?

[j20kim]

Last year the only way to buy tickets at the box office was to purchase them the day of the screening... and folks usually line up at the box office early. I was there on a Saturday and most tickets were sold out by 11am, and people began to line up to buy tickets for Sunday on Saturday night.

[jesseinthebu]

How did everyone luck out. I was able to get tickets for 3 screenings but I was going for 7. Some of the screenings were sold out by 9:02 am. I guess I'll be lined up at the box office a lot on the day of. This year they are only holding back 20% of the tickets so most movies will only have 40 tickets available the day of.

[Caffeinated]

Damn I should've ordered my tickets yesterday! But even with Internet Explorer I can't get choose seats for the screenings that aren't sold out! Looks like I'll be joining the morning queues....

[jesseinthebu]

[surfinROK]

Did pretty well overall, but not happy about having to register as a non-resident. I had a Korean friend's ID number and tried to make a reservation right at 9:00 sharp. To book, you need to pay right away which requires a credit card with matching ID number... I couldn't use my credit card under her name.

A few minutes later when I tried registering on my own account, the tickets were already sold out--this was for the movie with Willem Dafoe as a guest. Another popular Korean movie (I Saw the Devil) with a guest sold out really quickly as well. Some movies sell out within the first few minutes. Besides those, I was lucky enough to reserve all the other films I wanted, 14 or 15 total. I reserved quite a few of the best received/reviewed films from Cannes and Berlin. (IMDB average of about 7.5) Pretty excited, just a week away.

Strangely and unfortunately, I was charged a 1000 won processing fee per ticket for using my Korean credit card. Ironic as my bank (BS ㅋㅋ) is one of the main sponsors. Hopefully I can talk to someone and try to get the tickets for the regular price of 5000 won each. If not, not a big deal, still well worth it.

[lovebug]

if we wanted to get tickets the day of, what time do you recommend showing up in the morning? i read things about people sleeping over in the queue the night before and i really don't want to do that....

[jesseinthebu]

It opens at 8:30 on the day of. I have no idea how early you would have to show up but a person can only buy a max of 2 tickets per movie and a max of 4 movies that day.

14 or 15 movies? Lucky dog. I can only go on the weekend, and almost all of the weekend movies were sold out within 5 minutes.

[brento1138]

Awesome. I reserved some movies which may or may not be any good... they were the ones left. I was lucky enough to get "A Small Town Called Descent" (South Africa), "And on the Third Day" (Israel), and "Floating Lives" (Vietnam). I am really looking forward to them since they are smaller movies, and I wouldn't see them normally... I really go for getting the small indie movies that may or may never be released on DVD... or ever accessible to me again. I've seen a whole bunch of great movies at PIFF which unfortunately I could never find the DVD for order online. The South African flick I enjoyed called "Triomph" in 2008... unfortunately I cannot still find anywhere, but it was such a great (although very disturbing) film!

Anyways, my big question is: where are the temporary ticketing booths this year? I guess I have to go there to pick up my reserved tickets.

Also, being the greedy film lover that I am, I'm not happy with only 3 movies for the weekend. Looks like I gotta get in the line-up too and cross my fingers for some awesome movie tickets for Saturday. If I remember from the other years, the line-ups were INCREDIBLY GIGANTIC and took more than 5 minutes to even walk at a fast pace from end to end. Those people easily would have been waiting more than 2 or 3 hours. And then, who knows if they even got a ticket or not...

So, I suggest, go as EARLY as possible to the theater with the least amount of people. Don't go to the one near all the hotels and motels in Hyundai beach (in the big mall)... you'll never get a ticket there, it's just waaay too busy. Unless of course, you are hardcore and get there super early!

[surfinROK]

I was really fortunate this year to book a good amount online-- luckily no class on Wednesday morning when the tickets were avavilable to reserve. However, in the past I have only been able to make a few reservations and had to arrange the rest later. There are other ways besides booking in advance.

I do have a few suggestions:

As another poster mentioned already, try to arrive early at the temporary box office to book the tickets for the same day and preferably at a less crowded location. They open at 8:30. (See below for locations.)

Also, there are big whiteboards at the temporary box offices where people will post tickets that they are getting rid of for any reason (i.e. extra tickets, can't make it). It's a good idea to check these boards throughout the day, before and after seeing a film to see what's available.

Another suggestion, the outdoor films are pretty easy to get on the day of as the seating capacity is about 5000. Depending on the weather and the night's selection, this can be a good option.

As to the locations of temporary box offices--
http://www.piff.org/Template/Builder/00000001/page.asp?page_num=2452

--basically outside the theaters, yacht center, and on Haeundae beach.
(Note-- this is the first year that they will not be locking the door right when the movies begin. This takes some of the pressure off waiting in line for tickets and worrying about making it in on time.)

Again, good luck in obtaining tickets and enjoy the festival.