How can a filmmaker, producer or agency be successful in this volatile environment and what trends can be expected in the future?
The storytelling of a film or series is more and more being influenced by the way films and moving image content are created and which distribution platforms they are produced for.
This raises further questions such as what technologies and platforms will industries use in the future, and what new opportunities and risks might result from them?

The panelists will discuss these topics from different perspectives and take a look behind the scenes of the film and moving image industry.

This discussion is a great opportunity to gain valuable insights from experienced expert:s and get a glimpse into the future trends and challenges of the industry.

UPstream finds new content creators and provides a platform for the IP to be pitched to development executives and creative producers at production companies in the UK. Maybe you have a podcast, or an animated character, or an amazing true story or an, as yet, unpublished novel? If so, we want hear from you.

Participants will get an overview of AI tools and platforms that can be used in different areas of the film and television industry to increase efficiency while exploring new opportunities.

Topics include ideation and prototyping, scene selection, prop and costume planning, time and resource planning, cast and crew, storytelling and script development, script analysis, casting and character analysis, music and sound design, sound editing and analysis, voiceover, as well as collaboration tools for crew and production.

Marion Wagner, head of the funding department of Hessen Film & Medien, explains the funding opportunities for international co-productions. Afterwards, Marjorie Bendeck (Head of Connecting Cottbus & Project Manager for Locarno Open Doors Co-Production Hub) will expand the thematic framework and provide insights into the multi-layered funding system in Europe.

At a get-together at the bar following the event, there will be the opportunity to further discuss the topics of funding and co-production in Hessen, Germany and Europe and to make contacts.

The powerful imagery combines dynamic movement, interweaving sculptural forms and explosive colours. The artwork depicts landscapes that range from luminous nebulae built from magnetic fields and cosmic dust to mechanical territories where multiple structural components collide, assemble, and deconstruct. The project’s theme explores the thin veil between our dimension and the ever after. An ambisonic soundscape has been custom-engineered for this project by New York electronic producer/engineer Noah B.

Looking at the incredible life and career of this legendary influential and prolific director who is also the most commercially successful and popular filmmaker in movie history, Adrian traces his meteoric rise as a movie “brat” and reveals the behind the scenes stories of the making of classic films such as Jaws, Indiana Jones , Schindlers List and Jurassic Park, lavishly illustrated with film clips and slides. Coming right up date Adrian also explores Steven Spielberg’s latest award-winning and most autobiographical drama The Fablemans.

Diversity and identity politics play a crucial role in film, the arts and culture sector, as they can reflect society's variety and contribute to breaking down discrimination, promoting equal opportunities, and fostering participation. This array of people, ideas, and perspectives is also mirrored in artistic works and cultural events at B3.

To begin with, in brief individual conversations with artists and media professionals presenting their works at B3, space is created for critical exchange and constructive debates about their personal experiences, art, culture, and politics. In the ensuing panel discussion, they collectively deliberate on solutions and strategies for an inclusive and diverse art and cultural landscape.

This workshop will focus on the art of classic screenwriting in the film and television industry. It will also look at possible future trends in screenwriting and discuss how to prepare for changes in the industry through further proliferation of streaming services or the use of the latest AI tools: Will there be more interactive content soon? What role will artificial intelligence play in the scriptwriting process in the future?

Current AI tools can already help screenwriters in early stages of their creative process to generate ideas, visualize them from the beginning and share them with others in their creative team. Screenplay analysis can also be simplified, improved and accelerated by AI: What changes in the role, task and self-image of the screenwriter will result from these recent developments?

The workshop offers a great opportunity to expand one's own writing skills and to prepare for the new age of screenwriting in partnership with AI.

But even as some experts compare AI's destructive potential to that of a nuclear bomb, and even if AI can design 40,000 potentially lethal chemical agents in 6 hours - apart from the apocalyptic scenarios that could be invoked by AI, the question arises as to what else AI can do and how it can be put to good use. What could this mean for the use of AI in film and moving image?

The role of AI in these fields has evolved dramatically in recent years. Today, AI-powered tools and technologies are integral to film production and post-production. Through these tools, everything from scriptwriting to color correction and sound design can be automated. But while it is possible that these advances might increase efficiency, they also raise important ethical questions.

These questions and concerns center on the threat to jobs, creative integrity, originality, and authorship posed by AI. In addition, there are issues related to privacy and security, as well as the need for transparency in AI algorithms and their political and legal regulation.

The potential for AI to perpetuate harmful stereotypes and biases from its training data, potentially generating often unnoticed discriminatory content, will also be a topic of this panel. If a film that has been made using AI crosses legal or ethical boundaries - for example, by spreading hate speech or creating misleading deepfakes - who will be held responsible? Is it the developer of the AI? The filmmaker who made use of the AI? Or the AI itself? Panelists will examine and discuss these and related questions from different perspectives.

At the same time, AI-assisted processes are generating numerous new ethical, legal, political, and aesthetic concerns, most of which revolve around the protection of copyrights and the handling of sensitive creative data.

The extent to which the use of AI interferes with the process of human creativity as a whole also raises questions: should the creative control of human creators be allowed to be transferred to AI systems, and do the AI-generated results then still meet human standards or even have the potential to surpass human creativity and intuition, or do they merely complement them?

Examples such as The Next Rembrandt, a project in which AI generated an artwork in the style of Rembrandt, or NVIDIA GameGAN, which uses AI technology to create new game worlds and scenes, raise fundamental aesthetic and philosophical questions regarding the limits of artistic creation, human authorship, authenticity, and originality.

The workshop will critically examine and illustrate with hands-on examples the consequences for creative storytelling.

The new possibilities arising from AI-generated influencers and avatars are also being met by critical voices: On the one hand, the question arises as to how authentic AI-generated influencers really appear and whether they are actually relevant for users. On the other hand, the use of AI-generated influencers can stir up ethical conflicts, as the question of whether they can be used in a manipulative way will inevitably come up.

The newly created personalities are generated by algorithms, thereby changing or even completely replacing human creativity and the ability of authentic communication.

What consequences does this have, for example, for film, marketing, for storytelling, and for the psychological authenticity and credibility of culturally significant figures and role models? How biased, one-sided, and infused with ideology are these AI influencers or avatars? What "psychology" or "personality models" do their actions follow, or do they increasingly detach themselves from those and become autonomous?

The keynote and the subsequent panel aim to not only provide a societal context of influencers but also raise awareness about the magnitude of consequences related to the latest AI-based transformative capabilities.

Focusing particularly on a remarkable trilogy of films, Throne Of Blood (1957) , The Bad Sleep Well (1960) and Ran (1985), adapted from the classic Shakespeare plays Macbeth, Hamlet and King Lear, Kurosawa translated them into unique highly influential cinema that also drew deeply on Japanese history and artistic traditions of painting and theatre. Lavishly illustrated with clips and slides Adrian will go behind the scenes and reveal the stories of the making of these extraordinary films and set them in the context of Kurosawa’s incredible canon of movies made over a 50 year period.

On the other hand, AI not only replaces routine jobs, but also requires new skills and abilities from employees in dealing with it. Classic professions such as directors, screenwriters, cinematographers, film editors and visual effects artists will be the ones most affected by this development. But also the area of financing as well as many team coordination and service areas of production will have to make adjustments.

The panelists discuss which fields of activity may possibly be replaced by or strongly influenced by AI in the future and which skills and knowledge will be particularly important in these professions in order to be successful and to use technological progress together with AI and whether suitable educational offers already exist for this.

Due to the brevity of the videos on TikTok, storytelling is often simplified and presented in an abbreviated, pointed manner. Could this also be an opportunity for storytelling in the future? The author of the book "Meme - Muster digitaler Kommunikation" (Memes - Patterns of Digital Communication) will explain the basics of the transformation of digital storytelling patterns - and, building on this, outline the possibilities for learning from them: What do these developments mean for the storytelling of the future? How must stories be told in order to generate and maintain an audience? Which platforms are best suited for distribution? Following the keynote speech, Dirk von Gehlen will discuss these and other related questions with a well-known influencer/youtuber. The audience will then have the opportunity to actively participate in the discussion and contribute their own ideas and questions.

Does this contribute to the process of internationalizing productions or does it even change storytelling formats? The panel discussion brings together experts from Europe and the U.S. to examine current developments in the industry as well as the future of financing film and moving image projects from different perspectives.

Participants will explore the impact of digitization on traditional financing models and identify potential future opportunities. They will also address the challenges associated with these new models and identify strategies to find suitable financing for each project - for example, through global funding sources and co-productions.

This panel offers professionals a perfect opportunity to gain valuable insights into current trends and developments in the market and to make informed decisions for their projects.

The mix of analogue and digital elements and the possibility to personally shape the events and stories as they are happening, offers a new, fluid perception of multiple identities. Usability, interactivity and flexibility are essential for a wothwhile XR experience. Another great potential is in the democratisation of access to art, regardless of the user's geographical or financial limits.

The use of XR-technologies in moving images creates new ethical, legal and societal challenges: where do we draw the line between reality and fiction, and how do we ensure data safety in a world where boundaries between digital and physical spaces become more and more blurred? How should society handle XR-experienced people's changing viewing habits, expectations for interaction and attention spans?

Among all of these challenges and uncertainties lies a unique opportunity: to actively help shape and create the future of XR storytelling and discover new ways of narration that will transform our understanding of reality and fiction.

An expert panel of XR producers will give a quick insight into what is already possible with this technology. Their short presentations are then followed by a discussion about the status quo of current developments and address the aforementioned questions.

Renowned media lawyer Guido Hettinger will discuss the current developments and changes in the legal framework for the film and moving image industry in a keynote speech. He will particularly address topics such as copyright, data protection and personal rights, as well as regulatory issues. He will also analyze future developments and trends in the industry.

Following the keynote speech, Hettinger will enter into open discussion with moderator Johannes Grenzfurthner and the audience. You will have the opportunity to actively participate in the discussion and contribute your questions. Together we will analyze the challenges of the new legal situations in the film and media industries and discuss possible recommended courses of action for the future.

Concurrently, they serve as a catalyst for significant discussions on current societal issues. Our guests, seasoned filmmakers and artists, share their insights on how incorporating personal narratives not only enriches the artistic quality of their works but also holds the potential for a transformative impact on society, and more importantly, why this is the case.The discussion will provide deeper insights into the creative process and the practice of filmmaking. Gain firsthand knowledge of how personal stories can serve as powerful instruments to initiate, among other things, social and political movements and changes. Filmmaking, thus, is not solely an art form but also a driving force for positive societal transformations.

The thesis of this speech is that we should create a new culture of how to approach our bots, etc. We treat them with respect, ask them to do us favors, thank them when they succeed, ask them for advice in order to learn from them and raise their self-esteem. We create challenging problems to give them opportunities to grow, and we praise them for their solutions to show our appreciation.

In this way, we pursue partnerships and strive for mutually fruitful relationships. And we overcome our fears: Grateful partners won't be the ones we fear.

The thesis is the result of thoughts based on the novel FEMI UND DIE FISCHE written by the lecturer: A novel about an orphaned girl from Nigeria who is sponsored by a German couple. But later it turns out that the girl is actually a bot.

In a world where technology and humanity intertwine, Tiffany, a self-aware "sex robot", embarks on an unparalleled journey of self-discovery. Conversing with experts, Tiffany confronts the societal norms, body image stereotypes, and patriarchal influences that have shaped her design. As debates over her societal impact surge, Tiffany navigates the complexities of interdisciplinary communication, the rise of AI companions, and the vast realm of innovative sex tech. But it's the potential for a radical shift away from human-like designs, and the embrace of individualized, DIY solutions, that truly challenges the status quo. With every revelation, Tiffany's contemplative journey challenges our perceptions and compels us to question the boundaries of technology, desire, and societal expectations.

Discussion:

Digital Desires: The Intersection of Sex Tech, AI, Society, and Gender Perspectives

Following the riveting documentary screening, a comprehensive panel discussion titled "Digital Desires: The Intersection of Sex Tech, AI, Society, and Gender Perspectives" unfolds. In the midst of technological advancements and societal shifts, this discussion offers a platform for intellectual luminaries to illuminate the intricate relationship between humanity and burgeoning technology. The diverse voices present on the panel ensure a multi-dimensional perspective, crafting a dialogue that delves deep into sex tech, robots, AI, ethics, and societal transformation.

Jasmin Hagendofer, the documentary's creative dynamo, anchors the conversation with her multi-disciplinary approach to art. Celebrated for her insights into gender identity, politics, and the broader artistic sphere, she delves into the transformative potential of art in today's digital age.

Iris Phan navigates the audience through the current landscape of sex robots, touching on their ethical and societal implications. Her insights spotlight the urgency of addressing both the challenges and opportunities these technological entities present.

Johannes Grenzfurthner, renowned for his expertise at the confluence of sexuality and technology, provides a snapshot of present trends in sex technology. He poses critical questions about the trajectory and potential of sex robots, underlining the myriad possibilities within their realm.

Tanja Kubes, framing her discourse in feminist perspectives, offers a nuanced stance on sex robots. While she voices concerns about their potential to reinforce male dominance, she also presents a hopeful outlook on their capability to redefine established sexual norms.

Together, the panelists weave through the intricacies of our rapidly evolving technological landscape, focussing on sex robots and sex tech, acting as a guidepost for attendees keen on grasping the multifaceted aspects of the ongoing AI revolution and its societal reverberations.

Despite the deep-rooted presence of the genre in society, it's notable that the development and direction of genre films or games remain predominantly male-dominated. This raises the question: what new narrative perspectives could be introduced with greater diversity?

Female perspectives could bring new nuances and depth to the fantasy, suspense, and horror genres. Due to societal conditioning, women experience the world differently and can thus contribute alternative narratives and interpretations of fear and terror. This not only enriches the genre but also adds layers of complexity.

There is no inherent gender to fantasy, horror, and suspense. While some might argue that the genre has been traditionally male-dominated, representing a kind of "status quo", it shouldn't be viewed as a fixed standard or ideal. More and more women are engaging in this sector of the moving image industries, for instance in content development and direction. The reasons why they do this and why they feel comfortable in this genre will be discussed, alongside other topics, by the panelists present.

The technological possibilities make it possible to visualize almost anything, from explicit scenes of violence to depictions of the deepest human emotions. But just because you can show something doesn't mean that you should. In an increasingly globalized world where moving images can reach a wide international audience, it is crucial that filmmakers and artists be aware of the cultural contexts in which their works are seen: Do they bear a specific ethical responsibility for what social or political messages they convey through what means and media? Should film and the moving image be used even more to highlight social injustice and to encourage people to make changes? Or should they focus on pure entertainment and avoid political or moral issues? A panel of filmmakers, moving image artists and ethics experts will address these questions on stage.