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Several Hollywood celebrities, including Kristen Stewart, are poised to attend the upcoming Sundance Festival next month. However, the spotlight may shift to artificial intelligence (AI) as a central theme in numerous films and as a groundbreaking technology behind them. The Sundance Festival, a highly regarded event in Utah’s indie film circuit, will showcase an eclectic array of AI-focused films.
Notably, the festival will feature a unique “generative” music film that offers a distinct viewing experience each time, a testament to the innovative use of AI in filmmaking. This film, employing a “generative engine,” ingeniously meshes various scenes to create nearly limitless versions of the narrative, akin to how a touring band might alter their setlist at each performance.
Moreover, two poignant documentaries will explore the use of AI in sustaining communication with loved ones posthumously. Love Machina delves into a couple’s endeavor to immortalize their love through the transference of consciousness into an advanced humanoid named Bina48. Eternal You provides a window into startups developing AI avatars that enable ongoing interaction with deceased relatives, albeit for a fee.
Another highlight is Being (the Digital Griot), an interactive AI storytelling experience that encourages audience engagement, offering intellectual debates, poetry and even dance lessons.
The festival’s program, unveiled on Wednesday, arrives amidst the entertainment industry grappling with AI’s escalating influence, a core issue contributing to the recent devastating Hollywood strikes. This year’s Sundance, receiving a record 17,435 film submissions, selected 90 films and shows for screening, including 85 world premieres.
Among these premieres are two films featuring Kristen Stewart, anticipated to be major talking points at the festival. Love Lies Bleeding presents Stewart in a dramatic narrative of a gym manager entangled in a tumultuous relationship with a bisexual bodybuilder. Meanwhile, Love Me, co-starring Steven Yeun, intriguingly portrays an online romance in a post-human world, described as between “a buoy and a satellite.”
Other notable entries include Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain, a tale of mismatched cousins in Poland, and Saoirse Ronan’s performance in The Outrun, where she portrays an alcoholic seeking redemption in Scotland’s Orkney Islands. Additionally, Richard Linklater’s dual entries, Hit Man and God Save Texas, explore diverse themes from a faux assassin’s life to a documentary series about his hometown in Texas.
The festival will also feature Conbody VS Everybody, a six-part series focusing on a former convict’s gym that employs ex-cons, and War Game, a documentary that simulates a political coup in a US election year, adding a timely and unsettling element to the festival’s lineup.
Co-founded by Robert Redford, Sundance is set to run from January 18 to 28 this year, promising a rich blend of innovative storytelling and cutting-edge technology, reflective of contemporary societal and technological trends.
