Responding to criticism about the Tribeca Film Festival jacking ticket prices from $12 to $18, spokesperson Tammie Rosen has told N.Y. Post reporter Sara Stewart that “in an effort to provide the best possible experience, we have raised our prices, which have until now been lower than most other festivals.”

To which N.Y. Post critic and blogger Lou Lumenick responds: “While it’s true that the Toronto Film Festival gets $15 a ticket, it’s also true that their offerings are substantially better than those in Tribeca. Those of us who have covered the festival over the years have largely turned a blind eye to the issue that the bulk of the offerings are mediocre or worse — largely films that were rejected by Sundance or New Directors/New Films, many of which are never heard from again.

“The steep ticket prices may force the media to abandon our previous civic boosterism and start looking at Tribeca’s offerings from a more consumerist point of view — are these flicks really worth $18? And I doubt that’s what co-founders Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal wanted.”