Prismatic Ground is a New York festival centered on experimental documentary and avant-garde film. Hosted with media partner Screen Slate at handful of venues across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, the festival will hold its fourth edition May 8-12, 2024 (with a virtual component, in which participation is voluntary,).

We seek work that pushes the formal boundaries of non-fiction in the spirit and tradition of experimental filmmaking. This "spirit" is somewhat amorphous, undefinable, and open to interpretation, but refers to work that engages with its own materiality, privileges a heightened artistic experience over clear meaning, and/or conveys a liberatory political sensibility in the agitprop tradition.

Especially encouraged: Analog exhibition formats (16mm, 8mm); Queer, Trans and BIPOC filmmakers; medium length films; expanded cinema.

For a better— though not exclusive— sense of what we're looking for, here is the lineup for the 2023 edition of the festival: https://www.screenslate.com/events/prismatic-ground-2023

We have no firm premiere rules at this time, but work that has already played extensively at other festivals— or that will have played in NYC prior to the festival— may not be prioritized. Likewise for films completed before May 2023.

Please direct all questions to prismaticground@gmail.com.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
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Hospitality
Networking
  • Milton Guillen

    Beautifully curated and an act of love. Super thankful to have been included in the program and look forward to submit more works to this festival!

    May 2023
  • Jim Finn

    An honor to be part of such a smart and well run festival that pays screening fees. The artistic community feels centered in an inspiring way.

    May 2023
  • Ryan Clancy

    It’s an honor to have been included in this truly special festival. Inney has created a space for exciting, intimate, and powerful work. Can’t wait for the next edition!

    December 2022
  • Suneil Sanzgiri

    A brilliant re-imagining of what a film festival experience can be like. No others out there like it. Prismatic Ground is pushing the gambit, and we are all the more enriched by it.

    June 2022
  • A radical festival with outstanding programming. I was honored to be in the company of so many brilliant makers.

    May 2022