Short films produced by artificial intelligence are appearing at more and more film festivals, and the biggest event of all time is dedicating an entire section to AI-produced films.
The 2024 Tribeca Festival announced Friday that it will host Sora Shorts, a new program featuring five original short films created using OpenAI's text-to-video AI model Sora. This isn't the first time that AI films have made it to a major film festival, but it is the first time that there are films made with Sora.
Sora hasn't been released to the public yet and is new to even the most experienced AI filmmakers, but OpenAI has given five directors early access to the program — as long as they each Agreed on terms of filming around AI as last negotiated. years with the DGA, WGA, and SAG-AFTRA guilds.
Nikita Josu, director of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning “Nanny,” is among five filmmakers who will screen films made by Sora at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 15 at the Tribeca Film Center Screening Room. Other filmmakers are Bonnie Dispolo, Ellie Fombi, Raza Sixo Safai, and Michaela Ternasky-Holland. All five will participate in a panel discussion after the screening.
Dispolo is known as an actor on “Fire Country” and “Shazam: Fury of the Gods” and has played films at Tribeca, SXSW, and Fantastic Fest. Fombi is a Cameroonian American filmmaker who made the first feature “Our Father, the Devil” and received Independent Spirit Award and Gotham Award nominations for it. Josue is the director of 2022's “Nanny” and is in development on her follow-up feature as produced by Jordan Peele's Monkeypaw. Sixo Safai is an Iranian-American filmmaker best known for the short “The Mario Valdez Story” and the producer and co-star of “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.” Ternasky-Holland is a Peabody nominee and Emmy winner who is a leader in the XR and metaverse space.
“Tribeca is rooted in the fundamental belief that storytelling inspires change. Gene Rosenthal, co-founder and CEO of Tribeca Enterprises, said in a statement to the press: “To empower humans to thrive and to transform our wonderful and broken selves. Stories are needed to make sense of the world.” Sometimes these stories come to us as a feature film, an immersive experience, a piece of art, or even an AI-generated short film. I can't wait to see what this group of Tribeca alumni comes up with.
“It's great to see how these filmmakers are expanding their creativity with Sora, and we're honored to have their work at the Tribeca Festival,” said COO of OpenAI Brad Lightcap. “We're excited about their short films, and eager to learn how we can make Sora a better tool for all creatives.”
The Sora is capable of videos of up to 60 seconds where other models can only manage 6-8 second clips. These include different camera moves, characters with different backgrounds with subjects able to interact with others, a strong sense of their surroundings, the ability to see the same scene from different angles or with different backgrounds, And even allows events to be triggered separately. Moments in time. But it doesn't have audio to allow for dialogue, it bans any sex or violence, and some have argued that it lacks some of the illusionistic, surreal features that other AI text-to-videos have. Models are defined.
Sora and OpenAI have been particularly polarizing in recent times. When Sora's ability to create ultra-realistic images—far beyond what other text-based models have been able to create—was first revealed, Tyler Perry said he was afraid of the number of jobs he would spend $800 on. Million will halt the studio's expansion plans. Which will be deprived of technology.
The OpenAI company also recently faced criticism from Scarlett Johansson, who alleged that CEO Sam Altman (pictured above) asked her to use her voice for the latest Chat GPT model. approached them about doing it, only to be refused and to see that the company had created a sound that felt like it. Altman has stated that the voice is not Johansson's or intended to imitate Johansson, but rather the natural speaking voice of a hired actress. He also stated that the voice of “Sky” was cast before OpenAI reached out to the “Black Widow” star.
Tribeca runs June 5-16.