Hari Sama Catatonia
Hari Sama, founder of the production house Catatonia and director of the series Volver A Caer with Kate del Castillo for ViX, gave a workshop on directing actors at the 26th edition of the Guanajuato International Film Festival (GIFF) and announced that he is working on projects for platforms and cinema and gave. He also spoke about the proliferation of tools such as artificial intelligence which he considers needs regulation.
“We came to this festival representing Catatonia in the search for projects made by Mexican talent, because we want to work with young people who are starting their careers. In my case, I have several projects in the US, which are on standby due to the strike. In Mexico, I plan to shoot a series between October and November, but I can’t give details yet. I’ve just applied to Eficine with my film and I’m boosting our cinema division to produce Mexican films to give continuity to the auteur cinema we have been doing,” he said.
Regarding Artificial intelligence (AI), a central topic at GIFF, Sama showed his concern about the scope of this technology. “A very different world is coming and if it is not regulated, it can tear us apart. It is a tool that can be very useful for creators, but if this weapon is adopted by institutions or large studios, fewer creators will be needed.”
He assured that issues like this are central in the current US strike of actors and writers, which has paralyzed one of the most powerful industries in the world. “We are about to lose relevance as creators and that is one of the things this movement is about, regulating issues such as AI, among many other things. In the golden age of TV, regulations were put in place to control what executives could and couldn’t request you to do as a creator.”
He said that, as a member of the WGA, he supports the idea of regularization as a way writers should work with platforms.
