Ed Cabagnot to discuss the impact of AI in the arts

Ed Cabagnot to discuss the impact of AI in the arts | Daily Tribune

Film academic Ed Cabagnot will present the evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on the arts in a free public lecture.

Cabagnot, an active proponent of developing pioneering courses on AI related to media and the creative and culture industries, will share with the students a comprehensive overview of “AI: Is it a tool, a toy, a threat, or something else?”

He will delve into its interconnected relationship with the human experience and today’s technology. He is set to expound on the essence of a digital native in the Age of the Infosphere, a metaphysical environment of data, knowledge, and communication.

The impact of AI and other emerging technologies on Filipino creatives, particularly filmmakers, will be explored. The discussion will tackle diverse ways to thrive, and not just survive, in the ever-evolving landscape of the field.

The talk is part of the Master Lecture Series organized by the Benilde Film Program of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde. It aims to provide young creators with an understanding of the scientific breakthrough that enables computers and gadgets to simulate human learning, comprehension, ingenuity, and problem-solving.

Cabagnot’s career in cinema spans more than three and a half decades. Currently, he teaches film-related courses at Benilde School of New Media Arts, the University of the Philippines, and De La Salle University, with a focus on Contemporary Southeast Asian cinema, film festival management, and philosophy and Pinoy cinema. He served at the Cultural Center of the Philippines as the director of the CCP Media (Film, Broadcast, and New Media) Arts Division. He was a founding member of the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, wherein he was in charge of the programming. He has organized alternative festivals, film workshops, and fora and managed the Gawad CCP Para sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Video Independent Film and Video Competition, which was established in 1987 and has been the longest-running indie film and video competition in Asia.

Since the mid-1970s, he has written columns and articles for Philippine and international publications. He also held a brief stint as editor-in-chief of the Asia-Europe Foundation’s film360 online site.

Cabagnot is a two-time Palanca awardee for playwriting. His play, The Theatre of Director Julius Opus, and philosophy and film book, Heidegger’s Being and Time & Manuel Silos’ Biyaya Ng Lupa, were published by UP Press. Another title, Film Noir, was included in Ateneo de Manila University’s Budhi journal. In 2007, the Nippon Foundation awarded him with the Asian Public Intellectuals Fellowship Grant for his research entitled “Changing Landscapes, Changing Lives: the Changing Cinemas of Asia.”

Since 2008, he served as a member of the jury for international film festivals, to include the Busan International Film Festival (2008), Berlinale’s Forum (2011) and Amsterdam’s IDFA International Documentary Festival (2013).

In early 2010, he completed a five-week scholarship training on Film Festival Management in Berlin, Germany sponsored by the Deutsche Welle-Akademie.

Cabagnot served as an executive member of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts’ National Committee on Cinema for nine straight years. He was likewise part of the Metro Manila Film Festival Executive Committee in 2016, which brought much-needed reform to the longest-running nationwide festival of the Philippines. He was recently awarded the Key to the City of Manila for his role as advisor and festival director of the Manila Film Festival 2024.

The discussion is free and open to students from other schools, colleges and universities. It is scheduled for 8 November, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and will be held at the 12th floor screening room of the Design + Arts Campus. Slots are limited. Interested participants may register through forms.gle/cyeeFtmPY32bj3Dj8. For more information, visit facebook.com/BenildeFilm.