“Through the eyes of five strangers, it brings protest footage to life with raw immediacy,” the description continues. “At dawn, as Iranian forces execute wounded protesters, a violent soldier discovers the five hiding in a dead-end alley. Above them, Amir, a child in a wheelchair, watches from a window and decides to act.”<\/p>\n
Iran has seen widespread and severe protests<\/a> against its regime in the last few years over the actions of its morality police, mandatory hijabs and a faltering economy, among other issues.<\/p>\n An overwhelming majority of comments on Dreams of Violets trailer denounced the film for its use of AI.<\/p>\n WATCH | See the AI feature film’s trailer here:<\/p>\n Tribeca co-founder Jane Rosenthal dismissed concerns, telling CBC News in a statement that the film is both timely and appealing.<\/p>\n “The Tribeca Festival has long championed artists who push the boundaries of storytelling and explore new creative frontiers,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rosenthal called the film “a powerful example of how emerging technologies like AI can be used not simply as tools of innovation, but as vehicles for deeply human storytelling.”<\/p>\n She said the festival’s organizers were moved not just by “the technological achievement, but the emotional immediacy and urgency of the story itself.”<\/p>\n Film not the first to spark AI controversy<\/p>\n Dreams of Violets is set to premiere on June 10 in New York City, but it is by no means the first film to generate debate over AI’s inclusion in media. Some high-profile creators have championed its inclusion, while others have denounced it.<\/p>\n Director Darren Aronofsky has embraced AI through his studio, Primordial Soup, which has created a series of AI-generated short videos on the American Revolution<\/a>.\u00a0Director Steven Soderbergh has defended use of Meta AI software<\/a> in his 2026 documentary about John Lennon, which debuted earlier this month at Cannes Film Festival. <\/p>\n However, AI production company Particle6 generated backlash while promoting Tilly Norwood, a fully AI-generated “actress<\/a>” it hoped to market as a star. And director James Cameron has said AI will never replace actors and artists in his films,<\/a> a sentiment echoed by filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro, who said he\u2019d “rather die”<\/a> than use generative AI.<\/p>\n But Dreams of Violets director and writer Ash Koosha said he sees AI as a type of storytelling comparable to animated media. <\/p>\n “This is a specific genre, at least for me,” Koosha told CBC News.<\/p>\n Koosha, who\u2019s from Tehran, but now lives in London, U.K., said hearing news in January about the Iranian regime killing protesters<\/a> prompted him to make the film. <\/p>\n He made it during evenings and weekends, using tools like Kling AI, Claude, Google Gemini and Nano Banana that he says allowed him to make changes quickly and cheaply.<\/p>\n
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Another scene from the docudrama, which the festival’s co-founder called ‘a powerful example’ of how AI could be used as ‘vehicles for deeply human storytelling.’ (Submitted by Ash Koosha)AI puts festivals in a tricky spot, prof says<\/p>\n