Our Father Won the Critics, Kovačević’s Documentary Won the Audience, and a Panel on AI
Pula Film Festival held a panel on AI in film, presented crews of films in the Main Programme, and here are the latest scores from the critics and audience. See what’s coming soon on Tuesday at the Festival!
The film Extraordinary was screened as part of the children’s evening at the Arena, and the youngest film crew came to the Festival Centre in the morning to meet the audience and press. Young actor Andrija Lamot spoke about his impressions of the screening at the Arena: “For me, the most beautiful thing was seeing how many people actually took the time to watch this lovely film, and how many children experiencing the same issues came to see it.” Director Marina Andree Škop emphasised that the older characters and caricatures, while the children characters are deeply motivated, as well as the story of understanding autism and those who are a bit different. Actress Judita Franković Brdar spoke about her experience working with the youngest members of the crew: “It was wonderful working with these actors and this crew. I also learnt a lot from them.”
The film White Wash at Ninety was screened on Sunday afternoon at Valli Cinema. For the first time we saw actress Anica Dobra, in the role of Dada, in a Slovenian film, in Slovenian language. “It was wonderful to come back to my roots, to get out of my comfort zone,” she said. Actresses Lea Cok and Tjaša Železnik agreed on their impressions on set, saying that the crew worked like a family. “We worked from people, from the people,” they agreed. Marko Naberšnik, who co-wrote and directed the film, underlined that the film is highly emotional, but not sentimental, and that there is no pity: “When we were writing the screenplay, Bronja Žakelj, the author of the book the film is based on, did not like for us to dwell on tragic events too long so that they become sentimental.”
Srđan Kovačević’s documentary film The Thing to Be Done was screened in the Main Programme. “The injustice I’ve been seeing my whole life inspired me to make this film,” he said. The protagonist Laura from the Workers’ Advocacy Office described separating work and life as “a very difficult task, because you care about the people coming to you.” Playwright Olga Dimitrijević spoke about the film’s protagonists and how they developed them: “With time, we started treating them as classic film characters,” she said. Director Srđan Kovačević announced the start of his new documentary film, which will deal with violent evictions of people from their flats in the 1990s in Split.
HIGH NOON CRITICS’ DUEL
PULA PRO: AI IN FILM – CHALLENGES AND ADVANTAGES
The panel titled “AI in Film – Challenges and Advantages” was held as part of Pula Film Forum, and opened a range of topics relevant to the film and audiovisual community. The panelists Dario Bojanjac, PhD, associate professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing at the University of Zagreb, Igor Gliha, PhD, full professor of the School of Law at the University of Zagreb, Jasna Nanut, film director and president of the Croatian Film Directors’ Guild, and Chris Marcich, CEO of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre participated in the panel. During the discussion, authors expressed a level of scepticism towards using AI in film, but at the same time, emphasised that AI is actually not intelligence in the traditional sense of the word, but a tool based on algorithms and technologies that have, in different forms, been around and used for a long time. Christopher Peter Marcich emphasised that AI is a tool that remains controlled by man, and warned that in recent years we have seen a period of mass piracy of sorts when it comes to training AI models. He said he is convinced that it will soon be regulated by law. Jasna Nanut spoke about her scepticism for the use of AI in film, and warned that AI is still not a serious partner. She emphasised her doubts bout such tools have a more significant role or purpose when it comes to storytelling. Igor Gliha described AI as a ‘childish liar’, saying that answers generated by AI systems always require additional checks. He also emphasised that, based on recent research, the legal scientific community concluded that even just training AI tools requires authorisation from authors, because it involves reproducing information or copyright works, which is already regulated by law. Dario Bojanjac emphasised that one of AI’s biggest problems lies in its name that often misleads people. He once again emphasised that it is not intelligence as such, but algorithm-based machines and tools we have been using for years. The panelists and audience concluded that AI is a tool that will inevitably be used in the film industry, which makes careful, responsible, and ethical use of AI and continued human control over the use of AI of the utmost importance.
VEDRAN ŠAMANOVIĆ AWARD
By decision of a three-member jury (Janko Heidl, Mate Ugrin, Filip Zadro), the 17th Vedran Šamanović Award is presented to Ivan Ramljak, author of the short documentary-experimental film Greetings from the Secretariat (production by Kreativni sindikat).
“As a carefully considered inversion of classic historical chronicle, Greetings from the Secretariat is a taciturn, but also eloquent dialogue between the cold eye of an official and the imagination of the viewer placed in a position of investigator and detective unable to reach their goal. It is an exceptional essay on fading into oblivion and traces of human adversity in a small community, with hard but utterly inexplicable reality. This award is presented in recognition of Ramljak’s establishment of collage film as a form he has made into a distinguished, full-fledged stakeholder in Croatian film,” reads the explanation of the jury for the award established by five film associations and named after cinematographer and author Vedran Šamanović.
STATEMENT BY IVAN RAMLJAK
ANNOUNCING TUESDAY’S MAIN PROGRAMME
Conversations with film crews at the Festival Centre on Tuesday, 14 July
10 a.m. THREE WEEKS AFTER
10.30 a.m. DESIRE LINES
11 a.m. BEAUTIFUL EVENING, BEAUTIFUL DAY
