Contact: pyramid.inverted (at) gmail [dot] com
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Inverted Pyramid [I.P.] is an independent resource for moving image artists, programmers, academic researchers, funders and the general public to find out about moving image festivals' fiscal practices. I.P. is a DIY initiative ran by a collective of artists concerned with the exploitative hierarchy that has developed regarding experimental moving image exhibition. We are concerned that the financial onus of running a film festival is increasingly put on the artist through submission fees, and that many festivals refuse to pay moving image artists a rate proportional to their generated income (be it through grants, sponsorship or ticket sales). Moreover, it seems that for many of the world's largest festivals, the only people who are not paid a living wage are the filmmakers.
The goal of I.P.'s research is to, at the very least, create transparency. Ideally, it is to inspire change; both within the organizations themselves and within the ways granting organizations evaluate them. We believe there is always a way to pay artists if this is made a priority.
We are not here to shame festivals or artistic endeavours that are run out of love. It can be assumed that most experimental moving image artists are creating work for this very reason. Rather, we are interested in raising awareness and encouraging moving image festivals to lower submission fees and pay proper artist fees according to a logical fee schedule like this one.
Many festivals pay dearly for their their executive or artistic directors, while not paying any of the artists involved. Of course, we are not asking that these important employee wages not to be paid; but we are asking that the inherent value of filmmaking - and all art! - be recognized. We believe that every festival should make gestures to acknowledge the intrinsic artistic and financial value that the art of cinema has in the public realm.
We also want to clearly state that paying someone a travel honourarium to attend a film festival is not paying the artist an artist fee. Artist fees first. Then if festival organizers want the added value of having filmmakers present, they should assist in compensating them as such.
The inverted pyramid that informs many of these types of exploitative practices (the same pyramids that informs all other modes of capitalist production) must be abolished if we are to move forward. It is our hope that providing resources on the fiscal practices of experimental, underground and mainstream film festivals will help promote change within the arts ecosystem.
If you are interested in sharing any information whatsoever about your experimental moving image festival, please feel free to contact us. It is our goal to provide information to the public and to work with festivals to secure a brighter future for the filmmakers of tomorrow.
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This website is a work in progress, and we strive to be as accurate as possible. We of course want to be very careful to not provide any misleading or incorrect information. To contact Inverted Pyramid with information about your festival or organization OR if you see any mistakes or misleading information, please contact us at: