DO BANGLADROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC TAGORE?
written and directed by Aleem Hossain
a sci-fi short film
World premiere Fantastic Fest 2024
Winner Best Narrative Film 2025 AIFA Film Awards
Winner Best AI Animated Short 2025 Philip K Dick Film Fest
Other festival screenings: London Short Film Fest, Sci-Fi London, Atlanta Sci-Fi Fest, Trieste Sci-Fi, Extra Sci-Fi Verona, Silbersalz Science & Media Fest, Science & Technology Festival - Krakow
disclosure: contains AI generated content
In the near future, a Bangladeshi-American documentarian explores what the Bangladroids recall of their homeland.
Featuring the poem “Freedom” by Rabindranath Tagore - read by Bernard White.
Some Thoughts On Desi-Futurism and Generative AI Tools
This film is my contribution to the Desi-futurism movement… a body of sci-fi work that dares to imagine speculative futures through a South Asian lens. I think we need more sci-fi stories that center the experiences (and speculative imagination) of all kinds of humans. I also think the best sci-fi questions our assumptions. We spend a lot of time these days worrying about how AI and other technology will impact us but I think we should also be thinking about our moral and ethical responsibilities towards what we create.
This film is almost entirely AI generated. I wrote the script myself and then generated all the images in Midjourney. I animated many of the images in After Effects. The voiceover, an archival audio file, and a key poetry reading at the end of the film are all human created but the other audio is also computer generated.
Some of you reading this might have misgivings. I get it. I’m upset too and I think your concerns are valid. The truth is, I am simultaneously deeply skeptical and very excited about this technology. I wouldn’t use the technology right now to make a commercially released project. But I also don’t want to be on the sidelines while other people define what this tech can and will be used for. And I’m tired of AI boosters saying that AI critics just don’t understand the tech… well, I’ve used it and I still think that there are serious ethical issues, most obviously those related to intellectual property and labor. I have little faith that the big tech companies behind these tools are looking out for artists or the world at large. I think we should be advocating for legislation, fighting for labor agreements, and suing for transparency.
I also think it’s amazing that this technology has allowed me to create a South Asian American arty faux-documentary that no one would ever fund and that I could not make on my own - and one that I (perhaps paradoxically) feel a real sense of authorship in having made. I joined the picket line during the WGA-SAG strike, extremely concerned by what will happen as this tech permeates Hollywood (and our world). I also found great joy and affirmation in being able to create this Desi-Futurist work art that is about AI and made with AI tech. These are complicated times and I am a terrified and ecstatic explorer. I welcome the debate and discussion.
Read more of my thoughts on Desi-Futurism and AI filmmaking here: https://www.oxy.edu/news/occidental-professor-aleem-hossain-explores-ai-art-and-identity-new-short-film
