People are filming and taking pictures of themselves like never before. Since the invention of the photograph trillions of photos have been taken. But the easier it gets to “expose” everything and everyone, the more our self-evident freedom to portray the world is restricted by rules. Owners and copyright-owners of objects, buildings, trademarks and even landscapes claim money for the depiction of their property. The vast commercial potential within these images is becoming increasingly important. Algorithms, by means of face recognition technology and mobile profiles, yield invaluable data for the consumer- and advertising industry. Soon, the question of who owns a single image or who can copy a film for how much will be peripheral. The real moneymaker is the wealth of pictures of us all. If everything really does become a product – art, ideas, colours, the pictures of our surroundings and even our ‘selfies’ – then who do the pictures we take of ourselves, and our world belong to?

to the website THE ILLEGAL FILM