Creativity meets AI at the Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca announces “Storytellers with Watson: A Competition for Innovation” sponsored by IBM
Human and machine collaboration has inspired some of society’s most important innovations, and it has long been a source of fascination in film and entertainment. But it’s no longer just the subject of movies or video game storylines; it’s now also helping to inspire their very creation. Today, the Tribeca Film Festival and IBM are partnering to explore the use of cognitive systems, like Watson, to enhance the work of human imagination, giving artists, filmmakers and creative minds the tools to uncover new ways of thinking and problem solving.
The collaboration, in the form of a contest, “Storytellers with Watson: A Competition for Innovation”, encourages Tribeca’s community of “makers” and other developers in the storytelling space to create ideas on how they would apply Watson to any storytelling medium, such as film and video, web content, gaming, augmented reality and virtual reality. Open to the public, the competition uses IBM Watson’s cognitive computing technology to combine machine and human expertise that fosters new thinking and innovation.
IBM Watson has already been a big influence on many industries including healthcare, education and retail. With this contest, the same cognitive technology will inspire new ideas and thinking by tapping into Tribeca’s alumni network of media industry influencers, digital producers and creative firms. “Through this competition, we’re eager to tap into this dynamic group for fresh thinking and see how they apply Watson to enhancing the stories they tell,” said David Kenny, Senior Vice President of Watson and Cloud Platform.
The Storytellers with Watson competition kicks off at the start of the Tribeca Film Festival, with idea submissions being accepted from April 19 — May 18, 2017. In June, the contest will culminate in a workshop for five finalists, who will receive IBM technical, design and presentation support before pitching their ideas to a panel, which includes distinguished film producer and Tribeca EVP Creative & Programming; Paula Weinstein, Vice President Filmmaker Relations and Shorts Programming; Sharon Badal, IBM Chief Marketing Officer; Michelle Peluso, and Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for IBM Watson, Rob High .
For more information on the competition and how to submit your idea, please visit the “Storytellers with Watson” landing page at ibm.biz/storytellerswithwatson.
“Any identified persons’ participation on the finalist judging panel is subject to availability and to change without notice. Sponsor reserves the right to replace an identified judge with someone else of similar expertise/qualifications of its sole choosing.”
