In 2025, two online educational programs dedicated to the use of generative artificial intelligence in film and photography were conducted: AI-Lens: The Future of Film and Photography (May 1 – June 19, 2025) and IMAGINARIUM: AI, Film & Photography Lab (July 29 – September 30, 2025).
Both programs focused on the practical application of generative AI tools within contemporary visual practice, combining hands-on production with theoretical study of AI systems. Participants explored the foundations of generative and diffusion models, prompt-based workflows, as well as authorship, ethics, and artistic responsibility in AI-driven creation.
Throughout the courses, students developed independent final projects. In the first program, participants created either video or photographic works, emphasizing visual language, narrative structure, and the articulation of an authorial position within generative storytelling. The second program concentrated primarily on short-form video production (up to one minute), and additionally included one photographic narrative project and one hybrid photo–video work.
A central focus of both programs was adaptability as a core professional competency for contemporary creators: the ability to navigate rapidly evolving AI ecosystems, independently monitor technological developments, critically evaluate emerging tools, and integrate them into personal creative workflows.
The programs combined experimentation, genre exploration, and analytical reflection, fostering a comprehensive understanding of the possibilities and limitations of generative technologies in film and photography.
Selected Student Projects
• At the Edge by Artem Sytnik
A vertically formatted generative rap music video addressing themes of traumatic childhood within a toxic post-Soviet environment. Designed for short-form platforms, the project explores personal memory through AI-generated visual sequences.
• I Wasn’t in the Dream by Evelina Halushko
A surreal visual work reflecting on imagery of the unconscious. The project constructs a symbolic narrative space where identity and presence are questioned through generative composition.
• Awakening Protocol by Kira Lisovets
An anime-inspired narrative about a girl living a double life, unaware that she exists within a virtual reality system. The work combines genre aesthetics with themes of perception and constructed identity.
• The Rite Place by Alexandra Trius
A photographic story about a young man moving into a forest house, later discovering that the surrounding area conceals an unsettling mystery. The project uses staged imagery and atmospheric composition to build suspense.
• Purity by Melissa Kaitamba
An avant-garde arthouse work depicting the encounter between a dark entity and a flower. The entity absorbs the flower but is ultimately destroyed in the process. The project reflects on the paradox that even contact with light can be destabilizing when one is unprepared for transformation.
• Fine Line by Marta Pylypenko
A trailer for a fictional feature film blending crime drama, detective narrative, and psychological thriller. The project constructs genre tension through AI-generated cinematic fragments and stylized narrative pacing.
• Sands of Tomorrow by Tymur Shakun
An introduction to a speculative futuristic story with steampunk aesthetics. The protagonist travels into the distant future using a time capsule and must adapt to an unfamiliar world. The work explores world-building through short-form generative imagery.
• Liagaidi by Oleksandr BohushA psychological narrative about a young man experiencing disturbing nightmares and confronting a dark dimension of his unconscious. Upon awakening, he realizes that the threatening reality existed only within the dream. The project examines perception and internal conflict through surreal visual composition.
