Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke says curiosity got the better of him when it came to exploring the idea of using artificial intelligence in his work. The man behind such layered, award-wining art-house dramas such as Still Life (a Venice Golden Lion winner) and A Touch of Sin (a best screenplay prize winner at Cannes) has so far produced two shorts with AI and told a masterclass in Hong Kong this week that he wanted simply to see what might be possible with the technology that has many in the industry concerned
“I face new technology without making premature judgments,” explained Jia during a discussion panel. “I use it first to understand it.”
While international creators — and Hollywood especially — are taking a cautious approach to embracing AI tools, things are moving far more quickly in some parts of Asia. China is pushing the technology hard as part of its 15th Five Year Plan for economic development and Hong Kong’s leaders are following suit.
Meanwhile, the technology has virtually taken over Filmart, the Hong Kong-set entertainment industry gathering that kicks off this week. The event, which is being staged at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, has a packed schedule of seminars, panels and workshops focused almost exclusively on pushing the positives of AI adoption.
But there was an air of practicality about Jia’s session when the filmmaker dug into the topic. “Of course, there are many good and bad aspects,” said Jia. “Don’t rush to protest, don’t rush to invest; there are definitely issues that we will address through legislation and laws. My curiosity lies in the fact that whenever a new technology comes along, it can bring benefits to the expression of film and the production mode of film. New media can present some spaces, ideas, and destinies that we couldn’t reach in the past.”
Across a wide-ranging and engaging talk, hosted as part of the Asian Film Awards program, the 55-year-old Jia threw in some surprises, including the claim he was once a champion breakdancer, and the fact that a commitment to jogging on a daily basis turned him from night owl into serious filmmaker.
He also lifted the lid on some of his filmmaking processes, another example of how he had adapted his craft to changes in technology. Jia decided to frame his acclaimed drama A Touch of Sin (2013) around four separate stories inspired by posts he had seen on social media, and how he had been struck by how the “intensity and density of information dissemination had changed.”
“I found that every day when you open your social media, you will find a lot of things from all over the world,” he said, of becoming obsessed with Weibo, often referred to as “China’s Twitter.” “Suddenly, there appeared a sense that there are actually many unrelated things and many related ones. It made me think I should adopt this structure.”
But underneath the tech talk, the session never strayed far from what Jia cares about most: the movies themselves.
“I grew up in an era where we have never treated film as an isolated, closed art form; it is part of contemporary art,” said Jia. “And this part of contemporary art lies in the fact that when we live in the same social group, we actually have a lot of ways to interpret our lives.”
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