Chicago's new Dare to Dream short-film festival bars AI-generated art

The first Dare to Dream Film Festival, a single-night event, takes place on Wednesday 21 October at the Davis Theater in Chicago's Lincoln Square, and its rules say plainly that AI-generated art is not welcome. Eleven shorts are on the bill, spanning comedy, drama, documentary and animation, from local, national and international filmmakers. The AI exclusion is stated up front as part of what the night stands for, not left to the fine print.

“Filmmaking takes so much creativity, collaboration and perseverance. I want to celebrate that very human process.”

Bridget Johnson, founder, Dare to Dream Film Festival, to Block Club Chicago · blockclubchicago.org ↗

Organisers drew more than 80 submissions through FilmFreeway and direct outreach on social media. Doors open at 6pm and screenings start at 6:30pm, followed by a Q&A and the awards. Tickets cost $25, or $50 for VIP. Winners receive professional cameras through a collaboration with Canon, and a networking session follows at the Fathom bar in Lakeview. Part of the proceeds goes to a group working against deportations.

Founder Bridget Johnson, a queer Chicago filmmaker, says the spread of AI tools is exactly why she wanted a space that celebrates the human side of making films. The festival also reflects her own experience of paying fees and getting rejected elsewhere without explanation, so every person who submits receives free feedback. She set up the organisation to back LGBTQ+, BIPOC, neurodivergent and disabled filmmakers, as well as women.

Johnson describes the festival as the kind of event she wished had existed when she was starting out as a filmmaker, and says the programme was built with the story of each short as the first consideration. Her reading of the moment is that AI adoption is growing, which is a reason to give human-made work its own stage.

The event lands in the same week as the 64th Chicago International Film Festival, a much larger affair. If this first edition goes well, Johnson hopes to stretch it beyond one day, adding breakout sessions and discussions.