AI & THE CRAFT
FILM FESTIVALS In our third edition of a regular series, we explore how film festivals are handling AI as the industry struggles to adopt a standard B efore it won three Academy Awards in 2025, Brady Corbet’s ambitious The Brutalist took home the Silver Lion award for EMBRACE OR RESIST? Certain festivals are more open to AI than others. Berlin, for instance, created AI & THE CRAFT: WORDS KATIE KASPERSON
a separate category for AI-directed films, and New York ‘would not rule it out’, according to a spokesperson from NYFF. “Films have been submitted – and even selected – that engage with or incorporate AI in various ways, though it’s not a separate category in our programming,” they continue. “The technology is evolving rapidly, and the festival is open to work that explores or innovates with these new tools.” There are even some festivals wholly dedicated to AI, such as Runway’s AI Film Festival. “Our festival is a celebration of the art and artists embracing new and emerging AI tools for filmmaking,” begins Jamie Umpherson, Runway’s head of studios. “The screenings provide a look at a new creative era – one where AI can augment and expand human creativity and help storytellers bring their ideas to life.” Out of this year’s ten finalists,
best directing at last year’s Venice International Film Festival. The A24 epic also played at Toronto, New York, Valladolid and Austin during a circuit run, yet, in the Oscars lead-up, it was revealed that the film used AI to fine- tune its actors’ Hungarian accents. While its use of AI didn’t disqualify The Brutalist from receiving accolades, it did change how audiences and critics viewed it. It also invited important questions about AI and awards: should filmmakers be required to disclose the use of any AI, generative or otherwise? Should films made with AI – whether minimally or entirely – be barred from awards consideration? Should this extend to film festivals too? Festival programmers are playing a significant role as the industry navigates these uncharted waters. There is a noticeable lack of any standardisation, causing each festival to take matters into their own hands – and leading to a myriad of approaches to AI. From embracing films made almost entirely using AI (such as What’s Next? , which premiered at the Berlinale) to banning the technology altogether, we lay out the key takeaways from a select batch of festival guidelines.
MACHINE MADE A still from the AI-created film What’s Next, which was screened at Berlinale (right)
Umpherson explains, all used generative AI ‘to tell stories that otherwise would not have been told’. Some would argue, though, that a story told by AI is, in a sense, soulless; it lacks a human voice and therefore isn’t a work of art, but rather a piece of content. At this year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival, a group of protesters publicly spoke out against generative AI, claiming the technology is ‘a copying machine that is flawed, destructive and expensive to run’.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS complex and ever-changing ”
62
DEFINITIONMAGAZINE.COM
Powered by FlippingBook