'Amelie' director to judge first AI film festival

PARIS

The director of French classic "Amelie" said he was fascinated but occasionally scared by artificial intelligence as he launched a first-ever festival for AI-generated movies on June 5.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet will serve as head of the jury for the Artefact AI Film Festival, whose awards ceremony will take place in November.

Anyone can enter a short film — up to five minutes in length — as long as it uses AI tools in some part of its production, from script writing and storyboarding to image generation, editing, music or other aspects.

"Everything that's happening at the moment — whether it's deepfakes, voice dubbing —- it fascinates me," said Jeunet, who was Oscar-nominated for "Amelie" in 2002.

He told reporters he had asked ChatGPT to come up with ideas for a sequel to his hit film, "but I had to stop because it scared me".

But Jeunet, who also made the gory sci-fi "Delicatessen" (1991), said he was not worried about AI-generated movies replacing traditional films.

"There will always be films made by hand," he said, before taking a light-hearted swipe at Hollywood blockbusters.

"Maybe not the Marvel films, since the scripts written by AI could not be any more stupid than the ones they have done up to now," he said.

The festival is being overseen by Artefact, an AI consultancy firm, whose experts will be tasked with ensuring there is no breach of copyright or other ethical norms in the way AI is used in the short films.

"We are in a moment of audiovisual revolution -- it's important that we address it," said Elisha Karmitz of the production company and cinema chain MK2, which is a partner of the festival.

"The goal of the festival is to promote creativity via the use of AI, and make it more accessible," he said.

Budding filmmakers will have until Oct. 1 to submit their entries. As well as several prizes, the best will also be shown ahead in MK2 cinemas.