Karen Hao’s Empire of AI makes a bold comparison: today’s AI industry resembles the colonial empires of the past. That might sound dramatic, but for filmmakers the analogy is painfully accurate.
“Colonial powers once plundered gold and spices. AI corporations now plunder data, energy, and attention. Every film ever uploaded, every script snippet on the internet, becomes training material for models that generate “new” content without permission or credit.”
– Karen Hao
Control of Narrative
Just as colonial rulers rewrote history books, AI systems increasingly decide what stories audiences see. Streaming platforms use algorithmic recommendations to privilege certain films over others. Narrative power shifts from filmmakers to machines owned by corporations.
Invisible Labour
Behind every AI model lies an invisible workforce — underpaid data annotators in the Global South, moderating toxic content for pennies. Their exploitation mirrors colonial labour systems. If filmmakers use AI tools, we must ask: are we complicit?
Cultural Flattening
Colonialism erased languages and mythologies. AI risks doing the same. Trained primarily on dominant cultures, it reproduces homogenised stories. The unique rhythms of indie film — rooted in local voices — could be drowned out by machine-made clichés.
Resistance
But history shows empires always meet resistance. Just as anti-colonial cinema once exposed oppression — from The Battle of Algiers to District 9 — today’s indie filmmakers can challenge AI’s empire. We can tell the stories it can’t: the unseen labourers, the displaced communities, the fight for cultural survival.
The Role of Raindance
At Raindance, we’ve always believed in resisting creative empires. That’s why we champion bold new voices, from micro-budget rebels to visionary auteurs. AI may be powerful, but it cannot feel love, fear, loss, or joy. Only human storytellers can.
Empires rise. Empires fall. But storytellers endure.
So here’s the challenge: don’t let the AI empire define the future of film. Discover your story. Tell it with courage. And let the world be discovered through your eyes.
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Raindance Film Festival. Discover. Be Discovered.
Photo Credit: Bertie Watson
I founded Raindance Film Festival in 1993 because the British film industry was closed, polite, and congratulating itself while shutting new filmmakers out.
I co-founded the British Independent Film Awards in 1998 because British indie film deserved more than a shrug, a pat on the head, and a Tuesday night screening.
Raindance didn’t start as a brand. It started as a rebellion: film training without gatekeepers, a festival without permission, and a community built by filmmakers who weren’t waiting to be invited in.
Later, we took it global: Toronto, Vancouver, New York, LA, Berlin, and Brussels, because independent film doesn’t belong to one city, one class, or one accent.
I’ve produced 700+ short films and seven features, including Deadly Virtues (2014) and ALICE, which won the SXSW Grand Jury Prize (2019) not because someone “discovered” us, but because the work earned its place.
I’ve written three books used by filmmakers worldwide because too many courses taught compliance instead of survival.
In 2009, I was awarded a PhD for services to film education, ironic, given that most of my career has been about tearing down the rules that education insisted you follow.
I don’t believe in waiting for permission.I believe in making work, building systems, and forcing the industry to catch up.
Specialties: Independent Film (the real kind) · Producing · Writing · Film Education · Festivals · Breaking Broken Systems
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