Kenneth Glad
An unusual feature is moving from laptop production to a major festival screen. Its release puts pressure on old ideas about budgets, actors and urgency.
Tribeca Festival will screen Dreams of Violets on June 10, according to Deadline, giving a fully AI-generated feature a rare place before a major festival audience.
The 75-minute drama follows fictional strangers caught during Iran’s January protests.
According to The Guardian, Iranian-British director Ash Koosha based the story on journalism, eyewitness testimony and footage that emerged before internet access inside the country was restricted.
The screening comes at a moment when the film industry is still struggling to define where artificial intelligence belongs in the creative process.
While studios are experimenting with AI-assisted production, resistance remains strong among many writers, actors and filmmakers who fear the technology could reshape creative work faster than safeguards can be established.
A festival gives it weight
Tribeca’s selection places Dreams of Violets in a different category from the thousands of AI-generated videos that circulate online every day.
Film festivals often act as cultural gatekeepers. A project accepted into a major festival receives a degree of legitimacy that is difficult to achieve through technology demonstrations or social media releases alone.
According to Deadline, Tribeca co-founder Jane Rosenthal said the film stood out because of both its subject matter and its production method.
The selection may also signal a shift in how festivals approach AI-created work. The Guardian writes that Koosha believes many traditional festivals have been reluctant to engage with AI projects at all.
“A lot of the traditional festivals just don’t want to touch AI. They don’t want to even talk about it. What I’ve realised is that no one wants to be first,” he told the newspaper.
The project grew from personal anger
Before this film, Koosha was known primarily for music and technology rather than political storytelling.
According to The Guardian, he was born in Iran and later moved to London, where he continued a career that combined artistic and technological interests.
Earlier in his life, he spent two weeks in an Iranian maximum-security prison after helping organize a music festival.
The events that unfolded in Iran earlier this year pushed him in a different direction.
Koosha describes watching footage emerge through social media before communications were disrupted.
“This made me political. This is where I drew the line. I thought: You know what, I’m going to make the first film about this. It’s time to use technology to keep something alive.”
For him, the project became less about experimenting with software and more about documenting a moment he feared could quickly disappear from public attention.
A feature made after hours
One reason the film has attracted attention is the speed of its production.
Koosha has worked on the project during evenings at home while continuing his day job as chief executive of AI company Claigrid.
Deadline reported that the film was completed in roughly two months for approximately $2,000.
That figure would be almost unimaginable for a traditional feature tackling large-scale protest scenes.
Koosha said: “If you wanted to do it in CGI, it would cost millions. I spent under $2,000.”
The script itself was written by people rather than generated by AI. According to The Guardian, Koosha used AI tools to help refine language and organize ideas, but the creative direction, editing and music composition remained human-led.
The production process allowed him to revise scenes rapidly without the financial consequences that typically accompany major changes during filming.
One performer became an entire cast
Perhaps the most unusual aspect of the production involved the voices.
According to The Guardian, Koosha performed every role himself before using AI tools to transform the recordings into different characters.
A young woman, an older man and other figures in the story all originated from the same performer before being digitally altered.
That process highlights one of the central tensions surrounding AI filmmaking.
Supporters argue that these tools can dramatically lower costs and expand opportunities for independent creators.
Critics respond that the same technology could reduce demand for actors, voice performers and other creative professionals.
Koosha acknowledges those concerns. He has suggested that future productions could involve licensed likenesses and revenue-sharing arrangements with performers.
At the same time, he does not see AI as suitable for every project.
According to The Guardian, he believes some stories should continue to be told through conventional filmmaking methods and live performances.
The wider argument is just beginning
The debate surrounding Dreams of Violets extends well beyond a single film.
Across Hollywood and the independent sector, producers are exploring ways to use generative AI in development, visual effects, dubbing and post-production.
Unions and creative organizations continue pushing for protections governing how artists’ work and likenesses can be used.
What makes Dreams of Violets significant is not simply that it exists, but that it has reached a stage where audiences can judge the results for themselves.
Koosha has repeatedly emphasized that he views AI as a creative instrument rather than a replacement for artists.
“I’m not selling AI. I’m just trying to use a tool to tell a story,” he told The Guardian.
Whether audiences embrace that argument remains to be seen. What is clear is that a film produced on a laptop-sized budget is now appearing at one of America’s most prominent festivals, ensuring that questions about AI and filmmaking will remain impossible for the industry to ignore.
Sources: The Guardian, Deadline
