+RAIN Film Fest

Pompeu Fabra University has partnered with the organization of Sónar+D 2023 to promote this first European festival of films generated using artificial intelligence. +RAIN Film Fest will take place the day before the start of Sónar, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, from Thursday 15 to Saturday 17 June.

+RAIN Film Fest will present a selection of the best works submitted in the international call for films, open until 7 April, which have been made using AI models in their creative processes and explore their storytelling and technological capabilities. The film directors will be invited to the festival to present and discuss their works at public screenings. An international jury will select the most innovative films, which will also be shown at Sónar+D 2023.

The main festival features have been announced today at an event held this morning on the Poblenou campus of the UPF. During the presentation, Jordi Balló, +RAIN Film Fest director, has expressed the importance of this first European festival of films created by artificial intelligence after the first international edition celebrated this month in New York: "we are protagonists of a new intellectual and creative adventure to start a way almost unexplored so far, the way to discover what does it mean to make films with artificial intelligence, and we should be opened to the surprise that new formats may cause us in the future”.

Antònia Folguera, curator of Sónar+D, added: “this alliance with UPF suits us very well, because at Sónar+D we are interested in how creators use artificial intelligence technology. The years 2022 and 2023 represent a crucial period for the beginning and development of future formats in this field”.

The programme of activities for Wednesday 14 June, on the Poblenou campus, will take place from 9.30 am to 10 pm. RESEARCH, an international conference on research into the future of AI in the creation of digital content and its impact on the media sector, will take place in the framework of the AI film festival. It will deal with aspects such as the storytelling capacity of AI tools, the ethical use of AI, creativity, copyright, and the redefinition of the actual concept of author. Recognized experts in the study of the impact of AI in the field of art and communication will be participating, such as Joanna Zylinska and Víctor Pérez, as well as developers of film creation and editing tools such as Cristóbal Valenzuela, from Runway, and Jorge Caballero.

Other parallel activities to the AI film festival will be FAIR, which will take place in the Arsenal room, a space for connection and exchange between filmmakers and audiovisual creation professionals working with AI and producers and companies in the audiovisual and technology sectors. Arsenal will thus become a driving force behind the challenges that AI is generating in the audiovisual industry. The day will be rounded off with LIVE, a performance musical and audiovisual event, to enjoy musical and audiovisual works that start from processes of research and experimentation with AI, as well as the aesthetic and narrative possibilities of creation with generative models and live coding.

+RAIN Film Fest is a transdisciplinary project organized by the Department of Communication, the Department of Information and Communication Technologies, and the Arsenal ecosystem, all at Pompeu Fabra University. The Social Council of the UPF also provides financial support and collaborates with the festival. On the other hand, Pompeu Fabra University has partnered with the organization of Sónar+D 2023 to promote this first European festival of films generated using artificial intelligence. In addition, the festival has been supported by the Center for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB). Within the framework of its action line to show new lines of creation and technology, CCCB will support the creators of films with artificial intelligence that participate in the +RAIN Film Fest.

The first festival in Europe, in the wake of the New York precedent

+RAIN Film Fest has Runway as its partner, a leading company in the editing of videos with AI and organizer of Runway AI Film, which held its first edition in New York, in February 2023. The University’s Department of Communication becomes its partner in Europe.

More information about +RAIN Film Fest: upf.edu/web/rainfilmfest/

AI & WEB3 Creatives Summit, 15 and 16 June, from 2 pm to 6 pm, Sónar+D, Montjuïc Fair complex

The AI & Web3 Creatives Summit, one of the events held during Sónar+D, has been co-organized by UPF, UPF Ventures and Sónar+D and will take place on 15 and 16 June at Sónar+D. An international congress that explores how creativity changes our present and imagines new futures, in collaboration with researchers, innovators and business leaders. An anti-disciplinary meeting that gathers renowned artists, creative technologists, musicians, filmmakers, designers, thinkers, scientists, entrepreneurs, makers and hackers in Barcelona to participate in a carefully selected programme focusing on inspiration and networking.

In this context, the Summit has organized four sessions that will revolve around creativity and emerging technologies concerning Cinema & AI, but also Music & AI, Expanded Media and WEB3 & creativity. The aim of the sessions is to inspire, publicize the emerging talent that creates, researches  and develops around these issues, and 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. Creative and research projects and projects by startups will be presented along with newly created spinoffs. These sessions aim to encourage interaction between creators, professionals and companies, and to serve as a space for the emergence of new relationships, initiatives, proposals and projects.

More information about the AI & Web3 Summit: https://www.upf.edu/web/rainfilmfest/summit

+RAIN FILM FEST and AI & Web3 Creatives Summit share an interest in creating and facilitating meeting places to connect people from the fields of creativity, academic research, the cultural and technology industries, institutions and the social fabric as well as people interested in and intrigued by AI and emerging technologies and their role in the world of creativity. Finally, the aim is to generate a unique meeting space in the city of Barcelona where participants can enjoy surprising and unknown works, which open new paths to creation. 

+RAIN Film Fest and AI & WEB3 Creatives Summit are part of the SÓNAR+D 2023 programme.

+RAIN Film Fest

+RAIN Film Fest directed by: Jordi Balló

Coordinated by: Frederic Guerrero-Solé, Manel Jiménez, Andrea Olmedo (ARSENAL) and Teresa Roig (UPF Ventures)

RESEARCH directed by: Coloma Ballester and Frederic Guerrero-Solé.

FEST directed by: Anna Giralt Gris and Alan Salvadó

FAIR directed by: Jordi Balló

LIVE directed by: Sergi Jordà and Andrea Olmedo

AI& WEB3 Creatives Summit

Direction of Creatives Summit AI & Web3: Teresa Roig

Advisory and executive committee:  Albert Domingo, Anna Giralt and Roc Parés

About Sónar + D

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

For thousands of professionals and the inquisitive public from more than 100 countries, Sónar+D offers a unique, open and relaxed environment, where visitors can discover new ground-breaking works 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

You can download the press kit of the RAIN Film Fest here.