AI feature film on Iran’s protest movement makes festival history

About this episode

The episode discusses the groundbreaking AI-generated film 'Dreams of Violets' and its implications for storytelling and the film industry.

A film about Iran's protest movement is making cinema history. "Dreams of Violets" is the first fully AI-generated feature film ever selected by a major international film festival. The 75-minute drama will premiere at New York's Tribeca Festival next week. Created by Iranian-British director Ash Koosha from his home in London, the film took just three months to produce and cost less than 2,000 euros. There were no actors, no cameras, no sets and no film crew. Koosha says the film simply could not have been made through conventional means. Living in exile and unable to safely film inside Iran, he turned to AI to recreate events linked to the country's deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters. The film is based on journalistic reports, photographs and eyewitness accounts, and explores themes of memory, censorship and resistance. But as Tribeca becomes the first major festival to embrace a fully AI-generated feature, the film is also reigniting a fierce debate. Can artificial intelligence tell deeply human stories? Does AI democratise filmmaking or threaten the future of the industry? Eve Jackson speaks to Ash Koosha about Iran, ethics and the future of cinema.

People in this episode

Host: Eve Jackson

Guest: Ash Koosha

Topics covered

• AI in filmmaking
• Iran protest movement
• film festivals
• censorship
• memory
• resistance

Keywords

• AI film
• Iran protests
• Tribeca Festival
• Ash Koosha
• censorship
• memory
• resistance
• feature film
• documentary

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Tribeca Festival

Books & works: Dreams of Violets

Places: Iran, New York

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