Experimentation and discussion take pride of place on the bill of +RAIN Film Festival, a film festival without a red carpet for people who look, listen and converse.  At the festival, which will take place throughout the day on Wednesday, 14 June on the UPF Poblenou campus, films will be screened that experiment with the use of AI to generate images and videos at these times of technological implosion. Today the names of the 10 selected films, which can be seen during the festival, have been made public.

“Film is an art that mirrors the others and since its inception has incorporated technological innovations”, explains Festival director Jordi Balló. The presence of authors at the screenings to discuss their creative processes and the opportunities and implications of the use of generative models and how they will influence the audiovisual language of the future is an invitation jointly to construct a critical look on the subject.

The 10 films that will be competing in the first AI film festival in Europe, from 8 different countries, have been selected from among the 48 submissions (by authors from 15 states). The selected films, which vary in length from one to twenty minutes, are announced below, in the order in which they will be screened during the festival, followed by the provenance of their authors and their duration. 

• Sarah Palin forever by Eryk Salvaggio (USA): 12:51 minutes
• Kiss/Crash by Adam Cole (UK): 1:16
• Extreme Access by Darius Shaoul and Gabriel Mcgee (Canada): 09:28
• Cosita del manglar by Carla Lombardo (Argentina): 04:13
• Portrait of the Jungle People by Eddie Wong (Malaysia): 14:50
• Algorithms of beauty by Miléna Trivier (Belgium): 20:00
• My Word by Carme Puche Moré (Spain): 03:17
• Of youth by Fran Gas (Spain): 04:41
• January by Bruno Carnide (Portugal): 02:22
• Abyss by Jeppe Lange (UK): 13:26

The names of the members of the Festival jury have also been revealed today

Today, the festival organization has also announced the names of the people who make up the jury of the competition of this first AI film Festival in Europe , who are listed below:

• Bill Cusick, creative director of Stability, filmmaker and professor of film, design and creative technologies at the New School in New York.
• Cristóbal Valenzuela, technologist, software developer, researcher at New York University, CEO and co-founder of Runway.
• Joanna Zylinska, an artist, writer, curator and professor of Media Philosophy and Critical Digital Practice at King’s College London.
• Judith Colell, president of the Catalan Film Academy, filmmaker, founding partner of CIMA (Women Filmmakers) and vice-dean of Business at Ramon Llull University.
• Lluís Nacenta, writer, musician and researcher at the confluence of music, art, technology and science. Curator of the exhibition “Artificial Intelligence” at the CCCB.

The +RAIN Film festival jury will attend the screenings and discussions and will deliberate to choose the three award-winning films that will be announced during the LIVE section to be held in the evening of the event, which will present audiovisual and musical proposals created with artificial intelligence. The screenings and the subsequent debates with the authors are part of the section of +RAIN called FEST, which will take place between 4 pm and 8 pm on 14 June.

Live debate and support for the dissemination of this experimental filmmaking

The festival is committed to live debate and also to supporting the dissemination of this experimental filmmaking both due to its relevance in the use of incipient technologies shaping new narratives and to the need for a critical approach. 

Attention is the key to the selection of films, attention to the representativeness of the narratives, in this moment of experimentation, to the authors who, apart from the fee for the screening, will be eligible for prizes of €1,500 (first prize), €1,000 (second prize) and €500 (third prize).

Out-of-competition, during the events of 14 June, there will be a screening of the films that participated in the AIFF Festival, held in February this year in New York, which will be presented by Cristóbal Valenzuela, co-founder of Runway, a generative video platform.

 +RAIN Film Festival, organized by Pompeu Fabra University, has the support of the Catalan Government and Barcelona City Council, is a partner of Runway and is part of the Sónar+D programme.

Screening of the finalist or award-winning films after +RAIN Film Fest

After +RAIN Film Fest, the award-winning or finalist films can be seen at or on the following events, spaces or platforms on the days indicated:

 -      15 -16 June 2023: the award-winning films will be shown as part of the Sónar+D programme.

-       19 -25 June 2023: the selected films can be seen on the FILMIN platform

-       18 October 2023- 17 March 2024: the award-winning films will be screened at the CCCB.

+RAIN explores AI narratives and their aesthetic, ethical and political possibilities and implications

+RAIN explores AI narratives and their aesthetic, ethical and political possibilities and implications Often, current events and systemic logic still approach the debate around artificial intelligence from the perspective of technological solutions, either with fascination or a fear of the uncertainty of disruptive changes. +RAIN offers a critical look from the characteristic experimentation of the processes of creation and research. It will include debates on the subject with experts; it will be possible to talk to the authors of the films made with AI; watch the films; and experience audiovisual and musical performances generated with artificial intelligence.

The festival programme

Admission to the festival is free following prior registration, which can be done at https://www.upf.edu/web/rainfilmfest/. The festival presents three sections open to the participation of all interested people that have previously registered: RESEARCH (a morning of conferences and round tables), FEST (an afternoon of cinema), and LIVE (an evening of concerts).

Aside from the activities open to the general public, FAIR will be held as an exclusive working session for professionals, co-organized with the Chair in Futures of Communication. This session will involve filmmakers and audiovisual creation professionals working with AI, producers and companies from the audiovisual and technology sectors, legal experts and international figures who resort to AI in their production processes to discuss future perspectives.

Further details of the festival programme are available at:

https://www.upf.edu/es/web/rainfilmfest