New Film Festivals Chain Table launched

The new Film Festivals Chain Table was launched on February 2. The objective is to quickly develop concrete fair pay practical tools for this category of organizations. This will begin with a salary structure and a scheme for secondary employment conditions, including guidelines for safe and healthy working. It also involves determining a freelance mark-up percentage.

Funding of film festivals

There are approximately 115 film festivals in our country. Four of these receive multi-year subsidies from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW). The Netherlands Film Fund grants two (seven as of 2025) multi-year subsidies and ten project subsidies. The remaining film festivals depend on municipalities, provinces, and others for their finances. Seven larger film festivals are considered fair pay initiators. Together, they have engaged Bureau Berenschot. For instance, a benchmark against several collective labour agreements (CLAs) was conducted in 2023, focusing on roles and remuneration. The employment conditions policy was also reviewed. The process concluded with an advisory report, specifically regarding salaries, workload reduction, and development opportunities.

Composition of the Chain Table

The Chain Table is now starting to work on the implementation of Bureau Berenschot’s advisory report. Representatives from Cinekid, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), Netherlands Film Festival (NFF), and Kaboom Animation Festival are involved. Partly at the proposal of the Creative Coalition, workers from other film festivals have also joined. The Kunstenbond is also participating. Doreen Boonekamp serves as chair: this is relevant for coordination with the Film/AV Chain Table, which she also chairs.