'Fuck copyright,' Mathieu Kassovitz told delegates at the World AI Film Festival in Cannes — and predicted that within two years people will no longer care whether film characters are played by humans or generated by AI. The La Haine director is pausing a wartime-comic adaptation to experiment with video AI and plans an AI studio in Paris; he said the technology could halve VFX bills. His remarks come as Cannes bans AI-produced films from its official competition while studios pursue broader AI integration.

A director embraces AI

Mathieu Kassovitz, 58, who won three César awards for his 1995 film La Haine, told an audience at the World AI Film Festival in Cannes that AI will reshape how screen performances are made and consumed. He said he'd been stunned by recent AI work that showed what he described as "an emotion in his eyes that made me shiver." Kassovitz argued the technology should be treated as another creative tool and bluntly rejected current copyright objections, saying, "Fuck copyright."

He is pausing preparation on his own project, an adaptation of a wartime comic by Edmond-François Calvo, to explore using video AI techniques. Kassovitz said traditional visual-effects budgets quoted to him by US and European studios were in the $50–60m range for the film he wanted to make; using AI, he estimated, would lower that to about $25m. He also announced plans to launch an AI film studio in Paris, comparing the initiative to George Lucas founding Industrial Light & Magic in 1975.

Kassovitz predicted that AI-created performers will soon be household names: "You will have AI actors with millions of followers," he said. "They will exist in your phone and when they have a promo for the movie, you can talk to them directly." His comments reflect a view among some filmmakers that the technology could broaden who gets to make films by shrinking costs and technical barriers.

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Festivals and studios take different paths

The Cannes film festival has taken a more cautious line. Festival president Iris Knobloch said AI can imitate well but lacks what she called "deep emotions," and the festival announced that films relying on AI would be ineligible for the official competition. That decision highlights a cultural gatekeeping role festivals play and signals a fault line between advocates of new techniques and institutions that prize established forms of authorship.

At the same time, major studios are investing in AI firms and hiring technology executives to integrate tools across production, marketing and visual effects. The divergence between a festival ban and studio enthusiasm reflects competing commercial models: festivals reward perceived authenticity and craftsmanship, while studios chase efficiency and scale.

Economic stakes: cheaper effects, new business models

Lower VFX costs, Kassovitz and other advocates say, could:

  • Make expensive-seeming projects feasible for smaller producers and indie filmmakers.
  • Democratise filmmaking by reducing technical and budgetary barriers.
  • Create new marketing models where characters live partly in phones and online platforms.

But the same price pressures could hurt existing workers and businesses:

  • Visual-effects houses employ thousands of technicians, artists and supervisors who could face job losses.
  • Consolidation around cheaper AI tools may shift who controls images and captures financial benefit.

The result will shape who controls images and who benefits financially from the next wave of films.

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Kassovitz said: "In two years from now nobody will care" whether characters are created by AI or played by actors.

This article was created with AI assistance.