By Joshua Madden
A&E Editor

The Austin Film Festival provides a neat opportunity for aspiring film makers and cinema aficionados to learn about the process, but there’s one major problem: the ticket prices.

The basic pass for the festival can cost as little as $50, which isn’t a bad deal given how many films you can see with the pass, so the problem really doesn’t affect casual participants.

The problem is that if you want to go to the panels or anything other than the films, you’ll need at least a “Lone Star Badge,” which will cost you a minimum of $110. To get access to everything the festival has to offer, you’ll need a “Producer’s Badge” that costs $650.

I don’t know any aspiring filmmakers who can afford to spend $650 (or really, even $110) to buy tickets for a festival. I understand that the operating costs of the festival are likely high, but couldn’t tickets to each panel be sold separately?

Tickets to individual films can be purchased without the badge structure, so why not the panels and conferences?

It’s a small way to improve an otherwise awesome conference.

Please send comments to lariat@baylor.edu.