Tribeca Festival to debut 5 movies using AI after 2023 actors and writers strikes

Tribeca Festival is debuting five original short films using artificial intelligence after a contentious fight against the technology during the 2023 actors and writers strikes.

Filmmakers Bonnie Discepolo, Ellie Foumbi, Nikyatu Jusu, Reza Sixo Safai and Michaela Ternasky-Holland were tasked with creating short films using Open AI's new model Sora, which allows them to convert text to video, the festival announced in a press release Friday.

The Tribeca Festival alumni were given "a few weeks" to complete their films and they will debut on June 15.

"Tribeca is rooted in the foundational belief that storytelling inspires change. Humans need stories to thrive and make sense of our wonderful and broken world," said co-founder and CEO of Tribeca Enterprises Jane Rosenthal. "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 fiercely creative Tribeca alumni come up with."

The use of AI was a primary argument in contract negotiations during the 2023 writers and actors strikes. According to the film festival, the filmmakers will "adhere to the terms of the agreements negotiated with the DGA, WGA and SAG in 2023 with respect to the use of AI regardless of whether the films fell under the purview of such guilds."

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The premiere will be followed by a panel with filmmakers on the use of AI to challenge creatives.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher:AI protection was nearly 'deal breaker' in actors strike

Safeguards against artificial intelligence were among the most contentious issues in settling the historic actors strike that ended in November after 118 days, actors union leadership said at a press conference while heralding their strike-ending agreement.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA union chief negotiator, said the battle for actor protection from generative AI and the use of synthetic performers was still being fought "literally the last day, in the final hours of the negotiations."

"That was essential to making it happen," Crabtree-Ireland said of AI protections. Achieving these led to the three-year contract agreement between the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents eight major studios and streamers.

Contributing: Bryan Alexander