AI Filmmaking’s Future Debated by Alibaba, Sonilo, PROMPTR Executives at TapNow and Dogme23’s Venice Production Bridge Panel — SkimNews
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- TapNow hosted the "AI x Cinema: The 10,000 Parallel Universes Initiative" panel at Hotel Excelsior during Venice's Production Bridge, moderated by brand lead Sabrina Qin and cohosted with Dogme23, featuring Tianshu Zhu (Alibaba Token Hub), Barry Dignam (FilmEU/IADT), Ben Chimoy (PROMPTR), and Shawn Song (Sonilo).
- Ben Chimoy, a 15-year traditional filmmaking veteran who founded AI Filmmakers Berlin, said his shift to AI video began when a Zalando client preferred his AI-generated cut over the final produced fashion film, calling the emotional response unexpected given AI's reputation for being unemotional.
- Barry Dignam, representing FilmEU's network of 50 European film schools, argued AI raises the bar for film education rather than lowering it, saying curricula should teach critical thinking and core craft values rather than chase every new tool.
- Tianshu Zhu said Alibaba Token Hub's HappyHorse model targets budget and resource constraints in pre-production — storyboarding, 3D character placement, and previsualization — with HappyHorse 2.0 and a companion "world model" tool called HappyHorse Control slated to launch by end of September.
- Shawn Song said Sonilo holds licensing agreements with Universal Music Group and Sony Music, giving commercial users confidence in AI-generated music with revenue shared among publisher, label, and creator.
- TapNow introduced its three-tier Creator Growth Plan: Experimental (publish on Tap TV in 100+ countries with unlimited open compute), Selected (portfolio or social channel review), and Signed (invitation-only with guaranteed monthly minimum, free compute, and priority support).
- The panel closed with a technical breakdown of "Primodia," an S-level flagship directed by first-time AI directors Haonan Liu and Yuhang Qiao, where a Sonilo representative said its tools cut composing time from 10 hours to 20 seconds.
Why it matters: Alibaba's HappyHorse 2.0 and companion "world model" arrive by end of September, giving indie filmmakers a pre-production pipeline at a moment when Sonilo's UMG and Sony Music licensing deals just cleared the publishing-rights bottleneck for commercial AI music. TapNow's tiered creator program — including invitation-only Signed creators with a guaranteed monthly minimum — establishes a direct revenue path, while FilmEU's Dignam pushed back, arguing AI raises rather than lowers the education bar.
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