For the first time ever, Cinehill hosted a presentation of the Cinema Shift Festival from Toronto – a festival showcasing films created with the help of artificial intelligence. The audience could see a collection of short AI films curated by Cinema Shift selectors, followed by a Q&A session, and a chance to vote for the audience favourite at the end.
“What is interesting is that 85% of the films submitted to the festival were made by people who already work in the film industry”, explained Cinema Shift organiser Ružica Vrdoljak. “This means that most of them are already using artificial intelligence, but many are afraid to speak out about it.”
In the Q&A after the screening, when asked by talk moderator Milena Zajović about the origin of the idea for an AI film festival, Vrdoljak explained that it was prompted by the fact that AI has been making inroads into various other industries. However, she was quick to add that “this is not an AI festival – it is a film festival; the films are not made by AI, but by people, with the help of AI.”
“AI needs to be introduced into your daily routine in order to learn how to use it”, continued Vrdoljak on the subject of using AI tools creatively. “You just have to start, and give yourself time. It is not something you learn overnight, but if you work at it little by little and consistently – you’ll get somewhere. This is the industrial revolution of our time – we are transitioning to a new model.”
The program closed with an invitation to vote on the films, and to follow the Festival, as well as its co-founder Boris Ličina on YouTube, Instagram, and especially Substack and their newsletter, where they write in depth about AI topics that concern and interest them, about which they’re learning and want to share.
