The Pull Between Past, Present and Future at Cannes

Why It Matters

The clash underscores industry tensions over AI’s creative legitimacy and festival gatekeeping, while signaling that major platforms like Cannes will shape how new technologies are legitimized, regulated, and commercialized in film. This balance will influence distribution, awards, and the future economics of storytelling.

Summary

At the Cannes Film Festival this year, organizers and artists are grappling with a divide between traditional filmmaking and emergent digital forms. Festival rules bar films that use generative AI as a central creative tool from main competition, even as a dedicated section explores AI’s role in cinema’s future. Critics highlight a spectrum of works—from the stately historical drama Fatherland to the postmodern Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma and an immersive VR concert piece, Playing with Fire—that illustrate Cannes’ coexistence of heritage and innovation. The selections signal the festival’s effort to showcase both canonical cinema and experimental art forms side by side.

Original Description

Reporting from the Cannes Film Festival, film critic Alissa Wilkinson describes how the event is both fending off and embracing aspects of A.I.

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