The Berlinale’s director, Tricia Tuttle, recently noted that the festival has begun gathering information on the use of artificial intelligence in submitted films, while clarifying that this process does not imply any immediate changes to the participation rules. The question appears for the first time in the official submission forms, where filmmakers are asked whether they used AI at any stage of their work. According to Tuttle, the aim is purely investigative: to understand how the technology is being integrated into the creative and logistical processes of contemporary filmmaking, from budgeting and scheduling to more experimental applications.

Speaking at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in a conversation with filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, Tuttle reaffirmed that the Berlinale is not considering the creation of new sections dedicated to AI-generated works, nor the introduction of on-screen labels that would indicate the use of AI in a film’s production. The festival is also not contemplating a redefinition of the boundaries between shorts and features as a result of these innovations. For Tuttle, the European Film Market is better positioned to explore future-oriented questions, while the festival’s artistic program remains focused on preserving the collective experience of watching films together.

In her exchange with Kapur, who is launching an AI-based film school in Mumbai, two complementary perspectives emerged. Kapur praised the technology’s democratizing potential, arguing that it could reduce costs and allow more people to engage in filmmaking. Tuttle, however, expressed concern about the saturation this could generate: the Berlinale receives around eight thousand submissions each year and selects roughly two hundred, and a further increase in the volume of content could make curatorial work even more challenging and hinder the visibility of films that genuinely resonate with audiences.

Although both agreed that AI will eventually find its natural place within the audiovisual language—much like the transition to digital cinema—Tuttle emphasized that her most urgent concern is not technological but structural: the shrinking availability of screens for auteur cinema. In her view, the immediate challenge lies in sustaining an ecosystem where singular works can reach theaters and be discovered by audiences, regardless of the transformations brought about by the age of artificial intelligence.