This is a pivotal moment for cinema, in which technology and art are converging. As senior programmer for the Women’s Empowerment section at the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) and a filmmaker myself, I am seeing firsthand how artificial intelligence is reshaping the film industry.

While AI brings thrilling new possibilities, it also poses predicable as well as unforeseen challenges. Technology can open doors, but it is the human spirit behind the lens that gives films their true power — and I hope this remains unchanged.

When I arrived in Japan in 2003, my doctoral proposal on digital cinema was dismissed as “too futuristic.” Back then, this topic was still far from mainstream. My work with a Japanese startup six years later, where I worked on creating a robot to simulate human emotions, reinforced my belief that while AI can replicate empathy or humor, it cannot fully capture the human essence and its nuances. Cinema at its core is an art form borne of lived experience and personal insight.