Keynote with Dominic Lees: Documentary film in the era of artificial intelligence: accountability, trust, authenticity

Established conventions of documentary practice are undergoing a profound transformation in the age of artificial intelligence. This keynote examines both the theoretical and practical challenges facing documentary from the filmmaker’s own perspective: how, within an environment shaped by generative technologies, the web of trust between maker, protagonist, and audience is changing. The talk explores how AI reshapes not only modes of production and storytelling but also the very perception of documentary veracity, and how the value of authenticity can be preserved within a new technological and cultural context.

The central question is how creators can restore trust in image, voice, and sound at a time when their evidentiary value has been fundamentally disrupted. The lecture also reflects on audiences’ shifting relationship to archival materials and on the destabilization of the “archival effect”, the viewer’s emotional response tied to the awareness of a record’s authentic origin - an effect that, in the age of AI, may be irreversibly transformed.

Moderated by Jan Motal

Language: English (with interpretation into Czech).