Could AI Do That? Brooklyn Film Fest Touts Messy, Imperfect Human Stories

On a lark, a woman named Gil tried on a jewel-inlaid grill at a pawn shop, but the “near priceless” piece of bling got stuck in her mouth.

Months later, on the verge of a critical job interview, Gil is the very definition of “too much drip.” And she’s sorry—so very regretful for her momentary lapse in judgement, which turned what seemed like a solid joke at the time into a never-ending bedazzled nightmare.

She pours out her heart, and her frustration, in a film called “F*ck, There’s a Grill on My Teeth.”

Now, could a robot do that?

Absolutely not, according to an ad campaign for the upcoming Brooklyn Film Festival that joins the current chorus of smack talk about artificial intelligence, much of it emanating from the creative community.

The work, from Havas New York, gives the human-versus-bot battle a cheeky spin with two pitch-perfect 60-second spots, “Gil’s Grills” and “Former Winner.” 

In each ad, the human characters’ foibles are on prominent display, as are their emotions and motivations, illustrating the tagline, “Stories about life by those who have lived it.”

The goal of the spots is to show “the power of human creativity in a world that seems increasingly less creative,” Nick Lindo, associate creative director at the agency, told Adweek.

“AI is not new, but the threat creative people are feeling from AI is,” Lindo said. “And that feeling is only getting stronger. This campaign is about confronting that truth to reassure the creative world.”

The theme of this year’s festival is “Human Times,” reflecting “what the filmmakers are collectively trying to say,” according to Marco Ursino, executive director of the 26th incarnation of the event, where 155 films are premiering from June 2-11 in New York and online. “Their messages are, as expected, often rooted [in] societal challenges and changes.”

With AI in the zeitgeist, it was prime territory for the festival’s promotional materials, giving rise to some bold statements like: “Films made by humans can never be replaced by AI,” Ursino told Adweek. “Film is a human experience.”

The campaign, developed in partnership with Kin Films, Duotone and Final Cut, has understated narration from actor-comedian Thomas Lennon. Its spots revel in the “unique, surreal crises” of the protagonists, Lindo said.

In addition to “Gil’s Grills,” there’s an ad about a former high school athlete who seemingly peaked in his teens, but may have another act still to come. His project is called “Flop: A film by Tank Tucker,” which the spot describes as “a game-changing drama an AI could never have created.”

A series of social, digital and outdoor ads capture some other truisms: “AI will never know the feeling of always being placed next to the restaurant restroom,” “AI will never live in the shadow of its sibling,” and “AI will never contemplate mortality in a small patch of turbulence.”

That kind of inspiration is out of reach for a non-sentient being.

“All these things you feel, all those awful experiences you wake up thinking about at 2 a.m., is where great art comes from,” Lindo said. “And maybe more importantly, what makes you irreplaceable.”