As the ways in which moving images are created continue to evolve, emerging technologies are redefining the boundaries of film production, distribution and cinematic expression. Creators are gaining unprecedented opportunities to experiment with new narrative forms, reach wider audiences and reimagine how stories are conceived, produced and experienced.
This public forum is presented as part of the Animal · Nature · Future Film Festival (ANFFF) – Creator Incubator, the flagship non-profit programme of International Nature Bond CIC. It provides a platform for dialogue between established filmmaking practices and emerging technologies, exploring how innovation is reshaping the future of cinema and moving-image culture. By connecting filmmakers, producers, technologists and creative practitioners from diverse cultural backgrounds, ANFFF fosters international collaboration, knowledge exchange and new creative opportunities.
The forum features internationally acclaimed producer Eileen Tasca — Italian producer of EO, winner of the Cannes Jury Prize and a 2023 Academy Award nominee for Best International Feature Film — in dialogue with a new generation of artists and directors: Shixin Tao and Yuqi Zhang, whose 4D Gaussian work The Pigeon Ring, produced by Media Storm, has been selected for the Immersive Island of this year's Venice International Film Festival; and Kiddy Lee, chief director of A Cat Named T-Rex, ANFFF's non-profit short film produced in collaboration with Qiuqiu Manor, a sanctuary that has rescued over 3,000 cats. Drawing on their diverse practices, the four guests will explore how emerging image-making technologies are reshaping the entire cinematic value chain — from creation to audience engagement and distribution.
As technology continues to democratise access to filmmaking, what new opportunities emerge for independent creators and the global film industry? And as the possibilities of moving images continue to expand, how can innovation amplify—rather than replace—the uniquely human qualities of emotion, imagination and storytelling that define cinema?
Date and Time: 5th September 2026 ｜ 11:30AM - 13:30PM
Event Venue: Biennale Match Point Arena, Lungomare Guglielmo Marconi
Ticket Type: Free Entry - Pass holders and public (First Come First Serve)
Meet The Speakers
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Managing director ｜ Alien Films and Task Films
She served as executive producer of Jerzy Skolimowski’s 11 Minutes, which premiered at the 2015 Venice Film Festival, won the top prize at the Lisbon Film Festival, and was selected as Poland’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2016 Academy Awards.
In 2010, Tasca co-financed Skolimowski’s Essential Killing, which received numerous honors at the Venice Film Festival.
Continuing her collaboration with Skolimowski, Tasca served as the Italian producer of EO, winner of the Cannes Jury Prize and an Academy Award nominee for Best International Feature Film in 2023. The acclaimed parable follows the journey of a humble donkey through the absurdities and harsh realities of the modern world.
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Creative Director
Kiddy Lee is a content creator with 3M+ followers and a graduate in documentary filmmaking from the University of Hong Kong. His film Kitty Gun received the Special Jury Recommendation Award at the Beijing International Film Festival.
Kiddy operates his film studio in Hong Kong and has secured more than 50 commercial partnerships with leading companies including ByteDance, Tencent, and Huawei.
In 2025, he was awarded a full scholarship to study AI‑driven film production at HFF Munich. He is currently collaborating with animal rescue shelters, leveraging AI‑generated imagery to explore new narrative possibilities for animal conservation.
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Director ｜ Hangzhou Ostar Media Co.,Ltd
Shixin Tao is the director of The Pigeon Ring, an immersive work selected for the Official Competition of Venice Immersive at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. He is a director and imaging technology creator whose practice focuses on emerging imaging technologies and immersive storytelling. He specializes in identifying the distinctive qualities of different imaging technologies and translating them into narrative tools that serve storytelling and immersive experiences.
He graduated from the Department of Film and Television Technology at the Beijing Film Academy and currently works as a writer-director at MediaStorm, where he develops and creates digital media programs on filmmaking, imaging technologies, and emerging media, with a long-standing focus on making imaging technology accessible to a broader public. He contributed to the HDR imaging pipeline of the film Never Say Never. In 2023, he founded the podcast Immersive101, which explores how imaging technologies shape immersive experiences.
In recent years, his practice has expanded into 4D imaging and spatial computing. He maintains a long-term collaboration with 4DV.ai, continuously exploring the applications of 4D Gaussian Splatting across traditional filmmaking and immersive media.
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Independent Director
Zhang Yuqi is the director of The Pigeon Ring, an immersive work selected for the Official Competition of Venice Immersive at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. Combining family memory with emerging spatial imaging technologies, The Pigeon Ring uses 4D Gaussian Splatting to reconstruct live-action performances and real family spaces, allowing experiencers to truly “enter” and inhabit the memories of a Chinese family while further exploring the possibilities of live-action imagery in 6DoF immersive storytelling.
She is a young independent director with a BA in Cinematography and Production from the Communication University of China and an MArch in Cinematic and Videogame Architecture from the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. The Pigeon Ring is her first directorial work after graduation and marks an important starting point in her practice as an independent director working with immersive media.
Her practice explores how immersive media can reshape the relationship between experiencers and stories, while exploring the creative possibilities offered by 4D Gaussian Splatting and other emerging technologies. Rather than being confined to a fixed viewpoint, experiencers are free to explore, interact, and gradually discover the story for themselves.
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Moderator
Producer & Founder｜ ANFFF & MIMAOKU
Kean Cao is a producer, international cultural event curator and PR specialist. She serves as President of MIMAOKU Culture & Media Co., Ltd. (Shanghai & UK), Chair of International Nature Bond CIC (INB CIC), Artistic Director of ANF (Animal · Nature · Future) and Founder of the ANFFF Film Festival. She is also the Official Asia PR Representative for the Cannes Palm Dog Award and for WeShort, the short film distribution platform. With extensive experience in international co-production film development, global festival operations and cross-cultural exchange, she will serve as moderator of this forum, guiding the panel through an in-depth conversation on emerging technologies and the future of cinema.
Forum Topics
“Technology puts the “camera” into more people’s hands. But has it truly democratized filmmaking?”
AI, virtual production and generative tools are lowering certain barriers to visual‑image creation at an unprecedented pace. What once required an entire team to accomplish visually can now be achieved by a single creator.
Yet there remains a huge gap between “knowing how to use tools” and “creating meaningful work and earning a living from it”.
Tools are far from entirely free: computing power, subscriptions, hardware, professional expertise and time costs can all form new barriers. Meanwhile, funding opportunities, production resources, distribution channels and audience attention remain scarce. When machines take part in creation, how should ownership of works be defined? Who holds final creative authority? As technology boosts production efficiency, who might be locked out of the industry?
Cutting through the hype surrounding technology, this forum probes more fundamental questions:
Who gets to create? — As technology lowers certain production barriers, what is missing between a flash of inspiration and a fully‑realized finished work?
Who gets to enter the industry? — When one person can deliver work that once demanded a full team, will the industry become more inclusive, or will new competitive barriers emerge?
Who holds decision‑making power? — With AI stepping into screenwriting, visuals, performance and even editing, what does the identity of an “author” actually mean?
Who gets to be seen? — As production barriers fall and output explodes in volume, is the true scarcity technical craft, or human judgment, lived experience and one‑of‑a‑kind artistic voices?
Join this critical discussion on‑site at the Venice Film Festival on 5th September.
No definitive answers exist yet.
HOSTED BY MIMAOKU AND WESHORT
MIMAOKU is an official PR partner for multiple international Class-A film festivals and a UK-China multinational with offices in Shanghai and London. Its core businesses span film production, international co-production and film investment, integrating film, art, public welfare and commerce to advance ecological culture and sustainable development. With expertise in event planning, digital content creation, media outreach, merchandise development and ESG collaboration, MIMAOKU delivers immersive exhibitions, professional forums, charity initiatives and creative productions to a global audience, actively promoting animal welfare, cultural exchange and cross-cultural dialogue worldwide. WeShort is a global streaming platform, distribution hub and production company dedicated to premium short-form entertainment, connecting filmmakers, audiences and industry partners across the world.
