Artist Lecture: Directing the Unpredictable, with Herinarivo Rakotomanana

ABOUT THE LECTURE Every director works somewhere between control and chance. Herinarivo Rakotomanana works there on purpose. Coming to AI filmmaking from analog street photography and music-video directing, his practice treats the generative model as something you can only partly steer, and asks what happens to the directorial gesture when the frame you plan and the frame the machine returns are rarely the same. His lecture traces that question across his own films. With More Tears Than Harm, a painterly animation built from personal memories, he shows how he establishes a "visual DNA" to hold aesthetic consistency and control staging, alongside early research into keeping the organic, hand-painted imperfections he wants for the feature he's developing. With the photorealistic Mirage Deux Mille, he breaks down his "Run and Go" method of virtual scouting, where accidental details expand a scene and let the story find its own way. Running underneath is a lineage of improvisation: from moving a real camera around a dancer in his early film Lazy Bird, to setting the boundary conditions for AI-driven movement, to a practical multi-tool workflow drawn from two short commercial projects, Mora Mora and Inko. It adds up to an honest, working account of authorship in the age of generative video, and what it means to direct a process you can only partly predict. PROGRAM 18:45 Walk-in19:00 Artist lecture20:00 Q&A20:30 Drinks + chat21:30 CloseGoing deeper the next day? Apply for the workshop: https://luma.com/vb0slhiq PRACTICALITIES 📍 Netherlands Film Academy, Amsterdam🗓 Thursday 8 October 2026💰 Free attendance🎫 RSVP required ABOUT HERINARIVO Herinarivo Rakotomanana's practice unfolds between introspective fiction films and music videos with independent artists. Since the early days of GANs, he has been exploring the latent space of AI-generated imagery, weaving sensorial cinema and visual experimentation, from photorealistic film to animation. Awarded across international film and generative media festivals, including Best Technical Achievement at BIFAN 2025 for his AI-animated More Tears Than Harm, his work bridges technological experimentation with personal storytelling, focusing on intimate themes and memories. He has led talks and masterclasses for animation festivals and high-end fashion brands, and is currently in development on his debut feature film. Find more of his work at herinarivorakotomanana.com and youtube.com/@herinarivo. ABOUT AI GREENHOUSE AI Greenhouse is a two-year collaboration between the Netherlands Film Academy and AIxDESIGN to research and cultivate more responsible approaches to AI in filmmaking and film education. Led by artist-researchers Nadia Piet and Pablo Núñez Palma, AI Greenhouse organizes public event programmes, runs artistic experiments, and works towards a Creative's AI Literacy Cookbook: a set of experimental pedagogy practices for the ethical, sustainable, and community-driven integration of AI in filmmaking. ABOUT THE NETHERLANDS FILM ACADEMY The Netherlands Film Academy (NFA) is part of the Amsterdam University of the Arts, and the only film school in the Netherlands that trains emerging filmmakers across every subdiscipline: directing, screenwriting, cinematography, editing, sound, production design, visual effects, and interactive media. Based in Amsterdam, it offers hands-on, collaborative education with strong industry partnerships. ABOUT AIxDESIGN AIxDESIGN (AIxD) is an independent organization conducting critical and creative research on AI. We challenge mainstream tech narratives by making space for the rest of us, centering intersectional, inclusive, and ethical approaches through community-led projects. Learn more at aixdesign.co.