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AI moviemaking: Bucheon film festival ponders its future, and runs AI short-film contest

  • Korean film festival runs contest for AI-generated short films, hosts experts who ponder how generative AI opens up content creation to all

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Detail of a still from an AI-generated short film commissioned by the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan)  as the trailer for its 2024 edition, which includes a competition for such films. Photo: BiFan

“This is the worst that AI will ever be.”

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A catchphrase in the exploding artificial intelligence (AI) space, this captures the sentiment that today’s artificial intelligence programs will pale in comparison with anything that will be here tomorrow and the next day.

Applications for AI are being pioneered in just about every industry under the sun on what seems like a daily basis, but among today’s most visible examples is AI-generated content.

Provided with simple or complex prompts by users, programmes like Midjourney can create surprising and intricate images. The AI model Sora, developed by ChatGPT creator OpenAI and not yet available to the public, goes even further, creating fluid video content in expansive and photo-realistic worlds.

Social media channels are now flooded with AI-generated imagery and video content, and it is continually improving. Naturally, it is a small step from there to AI-powered feature film production.

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The first Korean film festival to acknowledge this is the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan), which this summer is staging the country’s first AI film competition during its 28th edition.

A still from the AI-generated feature-length Japanese animation Who Said Death is Beautiful?
A still from the AI-generated feature-length Japanese animation Who Said Death is Beautiful?
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