Last Tuesday I attended the Hollywood Professional Association Tech Retreat 2025 in Rancho Mirage, CA. It’s an event where, according to hpaonline.com, “…world-class leaders in engineering, technology, creativity, and business step away from their daily routines to explore and experience the most compelling topics in content creation, management, and dissemination.”
As you’d expect, there was an incredible amount of expertise and brainpower on hand, and I took maximum advantage of learning from them.
Though I also witnessed amazing demonstrations of future technology that’s already here, a fellow attendee turned me on to the short film I’ve included below. Created by Irish director and writer Ruairi Robinson, Which Side Are You On was completely created with generative AI. Nothing in it is real. Nothing in it was shot live. Everything in it will blow your mind!
Robinson is enormously talented. What he has created is impressive on every level, but what really hits home is his consistency of vision. He has the eye of an elite cinematographer – and I salute him for that. Find more of his amazing work at ruairirobinson.com.
If this’s where our artform is headed, I’m duly heartened by the prospect. Which Side Are You On shows us that the only thing that’s changing are the tools we use to do the job. Artistry and good taste will still rule the roost, just as they have since Day One.
I could go on and on about this film, but after seeing it, all I could say was…Wow.
I promise – you’ll do the same.
Put your Spectra away, if you haven’t already. A modern day version of the Battle of Algiers,