Peter Chan rejects AI-generated content but sees a future for feature films
At a Singapore festival conversation, the filmmaker drew a line between using AI as a production tool and generating a film’s content with it, while defending the two-hour feature.
Filmmaker Peter Chan Ho-sun said at a Singapore International Film Festival conversation on 22 October that he would consider using AI as a filmmaking tool but reject AI-generated content, according to Variety. He also argued that feature films would survive the rise of short-form and vertical dramas, drawing a distinction between new production techniques and what makes a movie.
Chan said he would probably use AI but ‘definitely not AIGC,’ Variety reported, using the abbreviation for AI-generated content. He compared AI’s possible role to CGI and other special effects. ‘Anything that helps me make movies, I welcome. But they won’t know art. Movies are still made by people,’ he said. His comments describe his own approach; Variety did not report a new rule for the festival or a specific use of AI in one of his productions.
Why Chan thinks feature films will endure
Asked whether he had ever doubted entering the film industry, Chan told aspiring filmmakers it was ‘probably the toughest time for film.’ But he rejected the idea that the medium would disappear into short-form entertainment. His prediction was personal: he said the two-hour feature would remain at least during his lifetime, even as vertical dramas compete for audiences.
Chan said younger audiences were turning to short and vertical dramas as attention spans shrank. He contrasted that with people listening to podcasts that run for hours, pointing to the range of formats audiences already choose. Those observations formed his case for films coexisting with shorter work; they were his assessment of viewing habits, rather than audience figures presented at the event.
The festival conversation and Chan’s latest film
The festival scheduled its In Conversation With Peter Chan event for 9 p.m. on 22 October in the Grand Ballroom at Marina Bay Sands. Its listing describes him as a Chinese-language filmmaker and names ‘Comrades, Almost a Love Story’ and ‘The Warlords’ among his films. Variety reported his remarks from that conversation.
Chan also discussed ‘The Road Not Taken,’ which Variety reported had premiered in Toronto. He described the film as a story of a troubled family: a couple are in divorce proceedings when the wife, who has early-onset Alzheimer’s, no longer remembers the divorce and mentally returns to when they fell in love in their 20s. Their relationship with a Gen Z daughter and a harsh grandfather also shapes the story, he said.
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Sources and context
- Peter Chan Rules Out AI-Generated Content, Says Feature Films Will Survive the Rise of Vertical DramasVariety
- In Conversation With Peter ChanSingapore International Film Festival
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.