The second edition of +RAIN International Film and Artificial Intelligence Festival, co-organized by Pompeu Fabra University and Sónar, has received a total of 232 films in this year's call, five times more than the proposals submitted in its first edition, from the five continents and representing more than 40 countries. A final selection of 10 films will compete in the FEST section, where an international jury will award the most innovative films with three prizes: Best Film (€3,000), Jury Prize (€2,000) and Special Mention (€1,000).

+RAIN Film Festival will be held in Barcelona from 11-14 June 2024 and will bring together the most prominent profiles in the fields of research, experimentation and AI-assisted filmmaking. The first international AI-generated film festival in Europe is defined as a space for dialogue and interdisciplinary fusion, addressing the most critical aspects related to the integration of AI in the audiovisual sector and, at the same time, as a privileged scenario for the exhibition of the best AI-generated film productions worldwide.

The poster for the second edition of +RAIN is the work of the creative studio Coure. It’s a striking visual proposal that represents the elevation of the artist, who is at the centre of a creative process marked by the use of technology. In this process, artist and artificial intelligence dialogue to define the new future scenarios of audiovisual creation.

+RAIN AT THE UPF

The Poblenou campus of Pompeu Fabra University will host +RAIN on 11 and 12 June. These two days the meeting will open with RESEARCH, a space oriented to research on the present and future of audiovisual content creation with generative artificial intelligence. Divided into two sections, the first day, RAINSIGHT, will bring together leading research and industry profiles in generative AI. Issues related to the narrative capabilities of this technology will be addressed, and the implications of AI at ethical, social, cultural, ecological, political and economic levels will be debated. The second day, RAINNOVA, is conceived as a space for the presentation of projects and developments in the process of creation, as well as for experimental testing of generative AI technological solutions applied to audiovisual ideation, production and editing.

The screening of the 10 films selected from the international call will take place in the FEST section, and will be accompanied by debates and presentations by their creators. The case study of About a Hero, by Piotr Winiewicz, a film that blends artificial intelligence and the work of legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog, will be presented in the same section. On the second day, as a new feature this year, FEST will create a live cinema experience, which seeks to highlight the new creation methods that are emerging with this new technology.

The days on the UPF campus are complemented by LIVE, a musical and audiovisual event of a performative nature with live sessions and installations of proposals with artificial intelligence, to enjoy live musical and audiovisual works based on research and experimentation processes with AI, as well as the aesthetic and narrative possibilities of creation with generative models.

+RAIN AT SÓNAR+D

On 13 and 14 June, +RAIN moves to the Montjuïc Exhibition Centre, the venue of Sónar Day. On the first of the days, the FAIR, organized by Pompeu Fabra University, Sónar and the Chair in Futures of Communication, with the collaboration of the Audiovisual Cluster of Catalonia, a space for reflection, debate and exchange where about sixty international experts in AI and the audiovisual industry sector will meet. Over two hours, they will address the challenges, opportunities and vectors of transformation of the audiovisual sector in the era of generative AI. Among the experts will be filmmakers who are creating with AI; researchers in the field of AI creation; AI software developers for the audiovisual sector; jurists specializing in copyright; experts in ethics and emerging technologies, and producers and companies in the audiovisual sector.

On 14 June, it is the turn of the AI & WEB3 CREATIVES SUMMIT. A space for inspiration, debate and the presentation of startups and spinoffs around the cultural and creative industries and applied and artistic research projects with emerging technologies. The Summit will consist of two sessions: Cinema & AI and Web3 and Expanded media. This section aims to inspire and showcase the emerging talent that undertakes, researches and creates around these issues, as well as discuss the relationship between creativity and emerging technologies; the ethical use of AI; copyright, and the role of Web3 in the cultural and creative industries, in addition to fostering the relationship between the different agents.

In Project Area, Sónar+D presents three +RAIN installations: one with the winning films of the Festival; a digital archive that collects and connects the musical and audiovisual proposals generated with artificial intelligence of LIVE; and Latent Booth, an interactive experience that questions human-machine communication and will culminate in a collaborative film, with the participation of Hugging Face, a promoter of AI with open source tools.

ABOUT SÓNAR+D

Sónar+D is the international meeting of art and digital culture that explores how creativity changes the present and imagines new futures. Since 2013, this anti-disciplinary event brings together leading artists, technologists, creatives, musicians, designers, thinkers, scientists, entrepreneurs, makers and hackers in Barcelona to participate in a carefully curated programme of talks, masterclasses and tech-shows with a focus on inspiration and networking.

For thousands of professionals and curious audiences from over 100 countries, Sónar+D offers a unique, open and relaxed environment in which to discover groundbreaking new work and find opportunities, learn new skills and showcase initiatives. Three fruitful days of talks, demos and workshops, shows, live concerts, exhibitions, immersive and interactive experiences and meetings with different communities.

More information at sonar.es

ABOUT +RAIN

+RAIN is co-organized by Pompeu Fabra University and Sónar. Promoted by the UPF Department of Communication and Department of Information and Communication Technologies  and ARSENAL. With the support of Barcelona City Council, the UPF Board of Trustees and the Centre of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB). And with the collaboration of the Chair in Futures of Communication, the Audiovisual Cluster of  Catalonia, FILMIN, the Research Unit on Early Cinema, (University of Girona), Phonos and La Factoría de Industrias Creativas. +RAIN is part of NODE UPF (spring 2024).

The second edition of +RAIN will be held in Barcelona on 11 and 12 June 2024 at Pompeu Fabra University, and on 13 and 14 June at Sónar+D.

More information: https://www.upf.edu/web/rainfilmfest/