Coalition of anti-AI activists band together for Hollywood film festival

As AI continues to creep into the filmmaking business (and as A-listers like Ben Affleck are building and selling their own AI firms for millions, in secret), a coalition of anti-AI activists is building. On March 27, the second edition of Justine Bateman’s No-AI Credo 23 Film Festival will take place at the American Legion, Post 43 in Hollywood.

For its second year, the festival is bringing in some heavyweight filmmaking talent to screen some of their past films and share their acumen with attendees. That includes Reed Morano, an Emmy-winning director and cinematographer known for her work on “The Handmaid’s Tale” (she directed the pilot), and films “Kill Your Darlings” and “The Skeleton Twins.” Morano will screen her 2015 directorial debut “Meadlowland,” which starred Olivia Wilde and Luke Wilson, as part of the fest’s Film Forum series. The film will close out the festival on March 29. 

Morano is joining a list of heavyweight talent for the festival alongside “Anora” writer/director Sean Baker, “Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner and Cassian Elwes, a well-known indie film agent and producer. (Gus Van Sant was also on board, but had to drop out for scheduling reasons.)

Sean Baker holds his three Oscars for his film “Anora.” AFP via Getty Images

Bateman, one of the most prominent anti-AI voices in Hollywood, founded Credo 23 amid the dual writers and actors’ strikes in 2023 that ground Hollywood to a halt with AI as one of the most contentious issues. (The three guilds are back at the bargaining table this year, where AI will once again be a hot button issue). 

One of Bateman’s goals this year with the festival is to help educate film school students, who she fears are being taught how to use AI in their filmmaking process, particularly how to prompt (the method AI video platforms like Sora and Seedance use to create its content). 

“If you’re using AI, you’re just avoiding the fact that you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s really just a distraction,” she tells P6H. “Let’s make sure that the experienced filmmakers are at this festival, answering any questions you’ve got.”

For example, Bateman says that Elwes will screen his 2013 film “All is Lost,” (one of Robert Redford’s final movies) and then speak about how he got the movie financed. “The apprenticeship structured business [is] kind of breaking down. I was thinking, like, wow, I know these guys. I’m gonna see if they’ll come and pass information on, because I don’t know how else, at least in the film business, I don’t know how else that happens.”

As with its first year, the festival requires all submissions to be certified — they get a Credo 23 stamp — that no generative AI was used in the production process.