The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) grew its revenue in 2010 but was not as profitable as last year.
VIFF director Alan Franey told Business in Vancouver October 18 that his September 30 to October 15 festival will have to pay sales tax for the first time.
He estimated the festival would generate $1,090,000 including festival program sales at bookstores. Franey said the festival generated $1,015,595 last year.
“We didn’t have to pay HST last year so you have to take 12% off our revenue total so that leaves less profit than last year,” Franey explained. “Up until this year, as a non-profit, you’ve been able to get back your GST. All the things we spent GST on we were reimbursed for. That isn’t true with the HST.”
Franey said that although the festival exceeded its expectations on the revenue side, costs were also higher than expected.
“We had to rent a lot more digital video projectors than we thought we would and they’re quite expensive. That was where we were bleeding red.”