Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) has a new staff member this year – Susi, an artificial intelligence assistant that recommends films and events from the programme.
Susi has been created by Mikk Granstrom, who is head of administration, a programmer and board member at the festival. “Susi suggests films based on the individual person’s interests, past favourites and unique preferences,” says Granstrom. “The audience no longer has to manually shift to the schedule. It simplifies the process and saves time.”
Granstrom came up with the idea for an AI film recommender in April this year, in response to what he saw as the dual problems of audience members having to sift through the 500 films (incuding shorts) on the festival programme; and the difficulty of bringing new films to people’s attention. “To get people interested in films they don’t already know about is hard work,” says Granstrom.
Immediately securing the approval of festival founder and director Tiina Lokk, Granstrom created the tool with a 10-person team, composed from PÖFF’s own IT staff and Estonian technology firm Acty. Its €25,000 cost was funded through Tehnopol, an Estonian foundation that aims to create innovative AI ideas and solutions.
Susi works by a user inputting any information – their film likes or dislikes, areas they would like to explore, or even what they had for breakfast – and it responds instantly with recommendations from the PÖFF programme, with brief details about the title and a link to the film page. Programmed using the openAI technology, it sits on the bottom right-hand corner of the PÖFF website, where it has been live since the end of October.
The free tool is accessible on both desktop and mobile versions of the site, with no download required. “People don’t want to download apps any more today,” says Granstrom. The tool also has an professional function, with its ability to recommend industry talks and events from the Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event programme.
Wolf
The name ‘Susi’ is one of several Estonian words for ‘wolf’ – a neat tie-in with the festival’s animal representative, akin to Berlin’s bear or Venice’s lion. Granstrom also chose it for its similarity to other AI-informed technology assistants, such as Alexa and Siri.
He wants the tool to be part of the festival’s efforts at maintaining its in-person audience, amongst a sea of options. “Festivals today are competing with different VoD platforms,” says Granstrom. “It’s very difficult to get people’s attention, so you have to find new and interesting ways to engage the audience. “The festival is our heart, and we don’t want to lose our audience to VoD platforms.”
Film festivals have long been places of discovery, where audiences go to be surprised by stories and works. Granstrom doesn’t see an automated recommendation tool as a threat to that. “The old ways are still there,” he says. “You can discover films as you like. It’s just one way to discover films if you don’t want to explore the whole programme.” He also refutes the possibility of it putting jobs – including festival programmers – at risk. “The work of [the festival’s] programmers has not been affected by AI,” says Granstrom. “We choose films in the same ways as before. People do that; and I hope it stays that way, that’s the beauty of it. I don’t think AI could programme the whole festival, that’s not possible.”
PÖFF owns the rights to the Susi tool, which Granstrom believes is the first of its kind at an international film event. The festival is not currently in negotiations to license it elsewhere; Granstrom believes that when other festivals see it, they may look to develop their own versions. “Next year we will see other festivals use AI as we do,” he says. “Everyone is going to think about it in the near future.”
As for PÖFF, it is already thinking ahead to a ‘Susi 2.0’, that could be used to create a more efficient festival schedule – like how UK exhibition chain Vue uses AI to programme its screens. “Maybe you can say ‘I have free slots on Sunday, 3-5pm – please find me a film’,” says Granstrom. “It’s a tool you can use to find films in proper time.”
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