Just for publicity?

Online art festivals short-change the creators, who go penniless

The pandemic has become an era of online festivals of films, dance, and music. An ex-colleague and good friend, who is an actor and model, rang me up last week. He wanted me to watch a short film that he had directed with his daughter, a theatre activist and software engineer, as the associate director.

Through arresting moments, the film narrates the chagrin of a middle-class technology professional working from home in quarantine. She is a single parent of a girl child and taking care of her widowed mother of unsound mind.

While passing my feedback, I suggested sending it to some international festivals. “Yes, the producer is sending it to three festivals but not to all those prominent in social media,” my friend said. “Do you know that many of such festivals charge an entry fee ranging from $500 to $1,000?”