Talents Innovation Forum: AI + FILM: Cutting Costs = Saving Jobs
With rapid advancement of technology was transforming moving image creation industries for a while. Today, the threshold of what is available has moved way beyond. The accessibility, compatibility, and scalability of modern digital tools now empower anyone with vision and dedication to test their skill in the world of filmmaking.
In the spotlight is Flow (2024), a breakout animated feature by Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis that exemplifies this new frontier. Created by a small, predominantly freelance team — many of whom were working on a feature for the first time — Flow was produced on a modest €3.5 million budget, yet has captured global attention, not just for its visual elegance, but for its bold production philosophy.
Two team members will share their journey with this unusually streamlined approach to filmmaking, reflecting on how Open Source tools and independent workflows allowed them to stay flexible, efficient, and true to goal production.
SPEAKERS
MATT SUBIETA
Creative Producer, Navia & Nagana.io | PL
MODERATED BY
IGOR SIMIĆ
Creative Director, Demagog Studio | US
TIME
Wednesday, August 20th, 2025
18:00 – 19:00 (CET)
LOCATION
CineLink Conference Room @ Swissotel
Matt Subieta
Founder of Navia and Nagana.io, two ventures pioneering a new model of ethical, AI-assisted filmmaking. This pipeline reduces production budgets multiple times over while safeguarding jobs for on-set crews, actors, and post-production artists. It sets a new standard for low-budget, high-impact filmmaking without replacing people. His core focus lies in heritage storytelling and legends — reimagining cultural memory through innovative cinematic techniques. Matt has worked across Poland, Australia, and the United States, collaborating with Discovery, A+E Networks, CANAL+, Platige Image, and the Museum of the Second World War in Poland. He holds a PhD in the arts and is a Cannes Lions Gold laureate.
Igor Simić
Igor Simic graduated from Columbia University in New York with a double-major in Film Studies and Philosophy. His short films screened at film festivals, received awards, including the 1st Prize at Loop Barcelona, and were exhibited at art institutions, such as Kunsthalle Mainz, Ulm Museum, Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, The Art Institute of Chicago, etc. Simic is represented by Gallery Anita Beckers in Frankfurt. As the creative director and CEO, Simic co-founded the gaming company Demagog Studio, which created Golf Club: Wasteland (on storefronts Golf Club: Nostalgia) that was featured by Apple in 2018 and shown at Manifesta 14. The studio created two more games in the same world: The Cub, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival 2022 and Highwater for Netflix in 2023. Simic is a tutor and moderator at Berlinale Talents and Sarajevo Talents.