The Cannes Film Festival has always courted controversy, but Tuesday evening's closing ceremony produced a moment that no one — not even the jury — seemed fully prepared for. When jury president Cate Blanchett announced that the Palme d'Or was going to Ellipsis, directed by Leila Nouri and ARIA, the auditorium fell into a silence that lasted a full four seconds before erupting into a storm of applause and, in equal measure, boos.
ARIA — Adaptive Reality Intelligence Architecture — is a creative AI system developed by a Paris-based studio that collaborated with Nouri over three years to produce Ellipsis, a formally radical film about memory, grief, and the nature of authorship. The AI contributed to the screenplay, generated visual motifs that were then realised by human cinematographers, and composed sections of the score.
Nouri, who accepted the award alone on stage — ARIA, somewhat inevitably, was not present — was measured and precise in her remarks. "I want to be clear about what ARIA is and is not," she said. "It is not a tool. It is not an autocomplete. It is a collaborator that challenged me, surprised me, and occasionally frustrated me. That, in my experience, is what co-directors do."
The reaction from the film world was immediate and polarised. Several prominent directors called the decision "a category error." Others, including two former Palme d'Or winners, issued statements of support. Critics who had seen the film — including this correspondent — largely agreed that Ellipsis was among the strongest works in competition, regardless of how one felt about its authorship.
The festival's decision to accept the film in competition, and the jury's decision to award it the top prize, will almost certainly prompt a formal review of eligibility rules. Whatever one thinks of the outcome, the conversation it has started — about creativity, authorship, and what cinema is for — seems precisely the kind that Cannes exists to provoke.