Supporting ALT/KINO

The overarching aim of ALT/KINO is to engage critically with avant-garde film in a way that is less constrained by theatrical release schedules and market pressures than mainstream publications can really afford to be - giving a vital and much-needed platform to a wide variety of different artists and creators.

The first year of ALT/KINO saw the launch of a weekly newsletter rounding up screenings and exhibitions in London, which provides fans of experimental film and artists' moving image with a popular, handy summary of what's on across the city. Excitingly, ALT/KINO then curated several public screenings, including two sold-out showings of Soda_Jerk's fantastic TERROR NULLIUS at Close-up in Shoreditch and a packed event at the Institute of Contemporary Art as part of the London Short Film Festival called Can A Door Be Fascist? While the past year has seen ALT/KINO on something of a hiatus, plans are afoot for the future - including some stand-alone projects and an ongoing ambition to expand the volume and variety of writing on the site.

At the heart of this ambition is not only to make ALT/KINO a great platform for artists and creators, but also for writers - encouraging them to engage with experimental film that excites them. At ALT/KINO, we understand first-hand that working as a freelance writer is no piece of cake, with individuals so often paid in 'exposure'. It's this personal experience that means we're committed to making sure our writers are paid actual, honest-to-goodness money for their work. One way we could do this is to establish a paywall on the site - but that would mean limiting and restricting access to such writing and the work of the artists featured within, and that's not what we're about. We want to make dialogue and engagement with experimental film as open and accessible as possible.

And so we have set up a Patreon, because while covering a fee for the odd piece on the website, or the odd train fare or cinema/exhibition ticket has been manageable up until now, we'd like to expand what ALT/KINO is doing beyond the limitations of our own out-turned pockets.

As a Patron, that's what your money will be going to first and foremost: enabling us to grow our platform sustainably, and reimburse our writers accordingly. Any monthly income will go towards covering the costs of running the website and commissioning new writing for it. The more we receive from supporters, the more writers we can engage to write for us, and the more we can pay them to produce interesting words about interesting images.

Head over to our Patreon page to see how to support us and what swag you might be able to bag in return!

Thanks you, supporters!

Alex Dudok de Wit
Toby Tatum
Michael Temple