The AI Film Academy celebrates innovation, creativity, and technology with a year-round programme and an annual awards show in Lisbon. Sotheby's Institute faculty and studio director, Leo Crane, shares his insights and experience from the inaugural AIFA Awards.
Last week, Sotheby's Institute of Art faculty Leo Crane and guest lecturer Clare Maguire flew to Lisbon to launch the AI Film Academy and the first ever AIFA Awards. Amid the fears and controversies over AI, they wanted to acknowledge an explosion of creativity: a new wave of artists’ film with an extraordinary diversity of stories and a radically new visual language. The artists at the centre of this are operating outside the industry, demonstrating that AI is opening up the field to more people on a global scale.
At the red-carpet gala, the AImagine Award for Best Film went to Denny the Shark by collaborative duo LeMoon (Melody Bossan, France) and Ethereal Gwirl (Dina Lockamy, USA). Having previously struggled to find a place in the film industry, both Bossan and Lockamy now create award-winning tales from home, earning a successful income by selling their films as NFTs.
Bossan says: “It's amazing how my faded dream of becoming a filmmaker has been brought back to life thanks to AI. I found a creative partner in Ethereal Gwirl, who shares a similar life experience — we were both stay-at-home mothers when we discovered AI art and were immediately hooked. Even though we have never met, we are able to create these amazing stories together. We are truly living in exciting times for creatives.”
Image: Courtesy of Paige Powell, Leo Crane and Clare Maguire present the AImagine Award for Best Film
Denny was one of 13 films selected by a jury of AI pioneers, including actor Vincent D’Onofrio. After four decades in the industry, D’Onofrio takes a long view of the relationship between art and technology. With fellow actor Laurence Fuller, he has formed Graphite Method, combining method acting and poetry with generative AI. Their most recent work No Fear, No Greed, No Envy questions the changing values and ethics around emerging technology.
“Times change, technology evolves and new variations are created from the breath and heart beat of artists before and artists now,” says D’Onofrio, “What Laurence and I are doing has our heart beat and our breath behind every piece of ours. We photograph it. We art direct all of it. We write every word of it. We do not use AI as a mocking bird.”
Image: No Fear, No Greed, No Envy by Graphite Method (still)
It is this humanity that rings through every AI work showcased at the AIFA Awards, from the 13 finalists and the jury showcase, to the immersive red carpet by Fantastic Planet and a spectacular live music performance by Noanne. Emerging technology is giving these artists a chance to tell their stories and perhaps compete with multi-million dollar productions in a way that has not been possible before. What does this mean for the film industry? Here are some recent words from director David Cronenberg (Variety, 21 May 2024):
“You can imagine a screenwriter sitting there, writing the movie, and if that person can write it in enough detail, the movie will appear. The whole idea of actors and production will be gone. That’s the promise and the threat of artificial intelligence. Do we welcome that? Do we fear that? Both. It’s like nuclear fission, it’s ferocious and terrifying and it’s also incredibly useful. So, what do we do? I don’t know. I have no idea.”
Image: Noanne performs 'Careless' to close the AIFA Awards