The Sedona International Film Festival tried out two new ideas this year and both added to the success of the 2009 event.

By offering tickets online and adding a full day, the festival was a success from every aspect, Director Patrick Schweiss said.

For the first time ever, people could buy their tickets online before the festival.

Depending on their status, people could start purchasing tickets online the first week of February. The week before the festival, online ticket sales were open to anyone.

“There wasn’t the mass of angry people the day of,” Schweiss said, unlike years past when people bought tickets the day of at the theater.

With no angry mobs, flying elbows or sold-out sobs, the mood was lifted everywhere this year.

“When you have happy customers, everyone is happier,” he said; they go out and spend money and they make it a point to return next year.

The festival was extended this year by one full day and exactly what Schweiss was hoping would happen, did.

By adding Tuesday, the festival caught visitors from the previous weekend, then the people who came in for the festival the second part of the week.

“Now we’re able to impact two sets of tourists as well as our locals,” Schweiss said.

Of all the people who come for the festival, ticket sales account for one-third of SIFF’s annual operating budget. The other two-thirds comes from sponsorships, memberships, grants, donations and fundraising.

“The bottom line is we’re a nonprofit,” he said. “We make enough money to pay for the festival at best, which is a very good thing for a nonprofit; however, we depend on a lot of people to make that happen.”

According to Sedona Chamber of Commerce CEO Jennifer Wesselhoff, the film festival is a “tremendous event” for Sedona, “especially at a time when

we could really use the

business — in late February,” she said.

This year, 60 percent of audience members, about 4,500 people, were from out of town, she said.

Those numbers meant a lot of hotel rooms and a lot of Philly steak sandwiches.

The Blue Moon Cafe, in the Village of Oak Creek, sold over 100 Philly steaks the Saturday during the festival, owner Tim Byrne said. He attributes the boom in sales to the festival and the weather.

“We’ve never done that before,” Byrne said. “We got slammed and we really needed it.”

Mayor Rob Adams appreciates that the festival is held off-season, to help fill up hotels during an otherwise slow tourist time.

He noticed a lot of out-of-towners opening night when he asked for a show of hands.

“Seventy to 80 percent seemed to be from out of town,” Adams said. “I would say it’s the premiere event in Sedona at this point in terms of an economic impact, and it seems to be getting stronger every year.”

For Sedona Rouge, L’Auberge de Sedona and Enchantment Resort & Spa, donating rooms for filmmakers during the festival pays off.

February is a downtime, Sedona Rouge General Manager Ed Conway said, so it’s worthwhile to fill the rooms with filmmakers as a means of marketing.

This year, English filmmaker Chris Jones gave the festival more than it expected.

Jones shot a video blog for his Web site, following his experience at the festival.

The camera scans a bustling lobby at Harkins Theatres, packed parties and views from his hotel room.

“I’ve been to maybe 20 to 30 festivals in the past year and I can tell you, this is the best,” Jones told a packed theater. “It’s so brilliantly organized. You guys are lucky to have a festival like this.”

On camera, Jones is constantly commenting on the “extraordinary views” and beauty of Sedona. He even jokes about calling his girlfriend in London and telling her they have to move.

So impressed with the festival, Jones had to ask the volunteers, “What makes this festival so special?”

“They all keep saying the same thing,” he said. “Patrick. Patrick. Patrick.”