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A film festival about the impacts of AI: why you should consider joining

film festival images
Published Mar 31, 2026

This spring, Francesca Larosa, Marie Cure fellow researcher at KTH, is organizing a film festival on AI, urging people to question and discuss what really lies behind it, and how it impacts society and the planet. The first two evenings were well visited, with films touching on exploitation of humans and natural resources in the name of AI development and functioning. Films that clearly had an impact on the audience, where the expert-led panels gave them an even deeper context of these issues. The finale screening of the festival is happening on the 14th of April and will be the Swedish premiere of the movie” In the Belly of AI”. We took a talk with Francesca, wanting to learn more about why we need a film festival on AI.

francesca

Why a film festival on AI?  

AI is a general purpose technology, meant to shape and influence the way we imagine and create our world. While tremendous opportunities come out with this transformative power, AI is far from neutral. It is built on physical natural resources, it requires a continuous and reliable energy supply at all times and it influences our production and consumption habits. AI systems are data-driven and depend on existing knowledge and capabilities: AI models are effectively trained to learn from what humans have produced with the help of so-called labellers. All these aspects are highly invisibilised but the cloud is more material than ever. I never thought about organising and curating a movie festival in my entire life. However, the more I dig deep into research on these topics, the more I appreciate how relevant the participation of everyone is. The film festival speaks to minds and souls more than words. By showing conflicting issues about AI, the audience is encouraged to think, engage, talk and act. 

What conversations do you hope the film festival will inspire?

The film festival has two goals. First, it aims at “making the invisible visible” broadening the conversation around impacts on the environment and society. Second, the festival is proactively engaging different players and the audience, imagining alternatives to the current status quo. Not a dooming, but a glooming vision. 

What is your experience of the film festival so far?  

I feel genuinely moved by how Stockholm responded to the programme. We had two full screenings, with more than 160 people already attending. More importantly, the audience has asked questions and interacted with the speakers in the panel which followed each screening. 

And why do you think people should come to the final screening on the 14th of April?

First things first: a historical movie theater in central Stockholm when spring is in full bloom: an unmissable night. An absolute premiere for Sweden, “In the Belly of AI” tackles all the most controversial issues around developing and using AI in a mature and responsible way. We will travel to Africa, touching upon responsibilities, ownership and control of material used for training. We will then dive into issues of power concentration and environmental impacts. Thanks to the help of a terrific panel, we will make sure to imagine together a future where AI causes minimal harm and fosters people and planetary well-being.  

Francesca Larosa and Paolo Torres in conversation
Francesca Larosa and Paolo Torres in conversation

This film festival is part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie project LIBRA, and is funded by the EU Commision, grant number 101150729. It is co-sponsored by the KTH Environmental Humanities Laboratory, the Swedish Red Cross, ForumCiv, Digital Futures and the Centre for Anthropocene History.

The festival is curated and organised by Dr. Francesca Larosa, PI of the LIBRA project.If you have any enquiries or questions related to the events, contact her at larosaclimate@gmail.com

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