“no-one is breaking any laws here, but it seemed fairly obvious that this festival was taking indie filmmakers’ money, and providing very little in return – like, say, playing their film. ”

https://thespinoff.co.nz/auckland/04-06-2018/david-farrier-goes-to-the-auckland-international-film-festival-and-it-is-total-balls/

Strikingly similar scheme than predatory journals: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_open_access_publishing