But when the festival kicked off on June 8, the date that the Chinese team played Brazil, virtually all of the seats at the Shanghai Grand Stage, where the opening gala was held, were occupied, and some 200 fans were waiting outside in hope of getting returns.

The organizing committee revealed that of all 12 competing cinemas, on average 90 percent of the seats were taken throughout the previous evening.

During the match between the Chinese and Brazilian teams on June 8, the French director Eric Heumann was watching the film together with over 110 viewers with his own film "Lovers of the Nile" in Hall 1 of Shanghai Film Art Centre. The other two halls of the centre hosted over 700 viewers for the films "Save the Last Dance" and "One Fine Spring Day".

When asked what was the key to their success, the staff of Shanghai Film Art Centre believed the preliminary marketing effort was paying off.

Although the centre is the major venue for the festival, the staff did not slacken as they realized the time collision of movies and football matches much earlier than the football fans.

"We have persuaded enthusiastic film fans who are also football fans to buy the movie tickets half a month before they know the arrangement of the World Cup," said a manager of the centre.

The spokesman of Studio City said marketing work and innovation were of great importance.

Studio City organized a series of activities like imitating the plastic arts in the movies, learning English through original versions of films, etc.

However, some fans argued that it is the quality of the films rather than the marketing that counts.

Ruby Zhao, a student from Shanghai International Studies University, said: "Only movies made in Europe and North America sell well; films from Asia don't do well."

All the same, movies from South Korea and Japan like "One Fine Spring Day" and "All about Lily Chou Chou" are very popular with fans here, according to the organizing committee.

Huang Shuqin, the renowned Chinese female director, said: "Several young directors from Japan and South Korea are excellent. They don't rush to fame or money. Rather, they try hard to depict their stories with a delicate human touch, free from even the slightest flamboyancy. From them we see the light of hope of the boom for Asian movies."

(Shanghai Star June 13, 2002)