Tribeca Festival to Debut Short Films Made Using OpenAI
The Tribeca Festival will feature five short films made using technology from OpenAI.
The films will use OpenAI’s Sora, which is a text-to-video model that accepts textual descriptions and generates video clips based on them. This is the first time films using this technology will be showcased at the festival.
“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.”
As part of the program, developed by Tribeca Festival and OpenAI, a group of filmmakers were educated about the Sora model, which is not yet available to the public. The filmmakers were required to follow the terms of the agreements negotiated with the DGA, WGA and SAG in 2023 as they pertained to AI, “regardless of whether the films fell under the purview of such guilds,” according to the festival.
“It’s great to see how these filmmakers are extending their creativity with Sora, and we are honored for their works to debut at the Tribeca Festival,” said COO of OpenAI Brad Lightcap. “We’re excited for their short films, and eager to learn how we can make Sora a better tool for all creatives.”
The films will be screened June 15, with a conversation afterwards with the filmmakers.
This program follows a frenzy of dealmaking between media companies and OpenAI. In the past several weeks, OpenAI has struck agreements with Vox Media, The Atlantic, News Corp., Reddit and a deal with People owner Dotdash Meredith.
