AI, Netflix in the spotlight for the Venice Biennale Alberto Barbera, Tarak Ben Ammar

The 2024 Venice Film Festival is a good time for a discussion of hot topics in the entertainment industry among industry players and experts with THR Rome.

So, Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera, Eagle Pictures owner Tarak Ben Ammar, and Lucky Red founder Andrea Occhipinti sat down with me to discuss the rise of artificial intelligence, the dominance of Netflix, and the prospects of a long crisis for Hollywood.

“It’s pretty clear that AI is going to change the rules of filmmaking,” Barbera said. “It’s a very innovative tool and it could be very useful in improving the way we write, shoot and post-produce a film, but there are a lot of concerns. Screenwriters are concerned, actors are concerned that they’re going to be replaced by AI, and I think their concerns are valid.”

Ben Ammar said that screenwriters and directors will remain invaluable and cannot be easily replaced. “I am not convinced that artificial intelligence will replace the genius of screenwriters or directors,” he argued. “I agree that it could be a tool in some areas, but I do not think that European governments will authorize a stop to dubbing. If you stop dubbing films in Italy, France or Germany, you will leave thousands of people without jobs and most Italian actors do not even work in films; they work in dubbing. There will be a discussion in the European industry about what is good and what is bad. Meanwhile, in America the unions will protect their members, actors, producers, directors and technicians.”

And Occhipinti stressed that “this is why it is important to update the regulations” for the AI ​​era.

Below are some other highlights from the broad discussion.

Netflix has won. The game is over.

On the ever-thorny issue of streamers versus studios, Ben Ammar declared the battle over. “Netflix has won. Game over. Apple sells phones and iPads. Amazon sells food. Netflix controls the world in terms of streaming. They have won. By the way, Alberto was the first person to bring streamers to Venice, way before Cannes. He is the guy who legitimized streamers in Venice.”

Barbera smiled and explained: “I realized a while ago that because the streamers were making some of the most interesting films, we should welcome them to Venice. There’s no need to build a wall between the streamers and the studios. Netflix and Amazon have produced some of the biggest films that Hollywood itself hasn’t been able to produce.”

A prolonged crisis in the sector?

During the roundtable, I asked the panel about industry consolidation, the tens of thousands of layoffs, the rush to shed unprofitable assets at studios like Disney, Paramount, and Warner Bros. How long will this period of upheaval and consolidation last, and what effect will it have on film production?

Ben Ammar said a lot will depend on geopolitical factors like the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, the state of the world economy, and whether interest rates will drop soon. “Remember,” Ben Ammar said, “all these companies are publicly traded. I think there are just too many movies being made right now, and therefore there are too many bad movies out there.”

Barbera noted that this year Venice received two thousand applications.

It was at this point that the owner of Eagle Pictures made a grim prediction. “I think we're going to see a long crisis, and across the industry, and for three reasons: first, the cost of money; second, people don't really want to go out and spend money; and third, the public's taste has been lowered by the amount of bad films. That's why festivals are essential.” He and Occhipinti added, however, that talent will always survive and that content is still the engine.

Censorship

Barbera said he was concerned about the lack of freedom for filmmakers: “This is increasingly a real and growing problem, in places like China, India, Turkey and Argentina. I've been accused of not having enough films from Latin America or Asia, but the problem is that there are no films. They are not allowed to express themselves freely in these countries.”

Occhipinti agrees: “Unfortunately, this is happening in more and more countries. That's why I believe governments should not decide what is produced.”

When asked what advice he would give to Italian producers and directors, Ben Ammar said: “I was lucky to have learned the craft from Roberto Rossellini and Franco Zeffirelli. My opinion is that scripts are fundamental. If it's not on the page, then it's not on the screen, and scriptwriters shouldn't be directors and directors shouldn't be scriptwriters.”

Queer: The long version

Barbera closed the Round Table by praising Daniel Craig's new film, Queerdirected by Luca Guadagnino. “Queer It is the best film made by Guadagnino so far. I had the chance to see three different versions. The first one lasted three hours and twenty minutes, the next one was cut to two hours and a half and then, only fifteen days before the opening of the festival, it was cut again, this time to two hours and fifteen minutes. But I liked the long version the most.”

Watch the full roundtable discussion below.

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