AI in Filmmaking: An Ongoing Conversation at AAFF

Image of a Screening Salon for the 62nd Ann Arbor Film Festival

At the Ann Arbor Film Festival, conversations about emerging technologies in cinema are nothing new. From the earliest experiments in video art to the rise of digital editing, AAFF has long been a space where artists working at the edges of filmmaking find a home. Our most recent Screening Salon—a monthly gathering of the 80+ members of the AAFF Screening Cadre tasked with reviewing the thousands of submissions received each year—turned its focus once again to artificial intelligence. AI is rapidly reshaping creative practice across disciplines, and filmmaking is no exception. While we’ve discussed this subject before, the constant evolution of AI tools means that each new season brings fresh questions and new kinds of work to consider.

Films incorporating AI, whether partially or fully generated, are arriving in greater numbers each year. As with any technological shift in moving image art, there can be hesitation about how such works fit into our programming. Yet history reminds us that AAFF has always embraced art at the boundaries of the moving image. For every groundbreaking innovation that changed the medium, there were countless earlier attempts that faltered—but those, too, were part of the process of discovery.

Our screeners approach AI films with the same criteria we apply to any submission: is the work compelling as a whole, and does it carry artistic merit? A film that relies solely on novelty or the spectacle of a new tool may miss the point, while one that uses AI in service of a larger artistic vision can be transformative. Just as in other moments of cinematic evolution, we expect that as artists grow more fluent with these tools, we’ll encounter works that feel truly revelatory.

Part of the Salon’s discussion centered on how to identify AI-driven films within our screening queues. For now, most filmmakers are transparent, noting their process in synopses or credits. But even outside of filmmaking, AI is increasingly present in the media we consume—from search engines to advertising—often in ways that aren’t obvious. Reading the materials provided by filmmakers offers insight into how these tools are being employed and opens the door to a richer understanding of the work itself. Encouragingly, many artists seem eager to share not only what they are making, but how they are making it.

AI in filmmaking is still in its early chapters, but these conversations remind us of AAFF’s core mission: to champion experimentation, to question boundaries, and to witness the possibilities of cinema as it continues to evolve.