A journalist’s account of women doing the work behind artificial intelligence in India became the inspiration for Humans in the Loop. On 11 October, the filmmakers will discuss how they developed that reporting into a feature film in a free online event hosted by South Asian Lens.
Titled “Parenting AI: From Reportage to Feature”, the conversation will bring together writer-director Aranya Sahay, executive producer Biju Toppo and actor Sonal Madhushankar. Actor and producer Elizabeth “Liz” Sankarsingh will moderate.
The film was inspired by Karishma Mehrotra’s 2022 FiftyTwo article “Human Touch”, which reported on women working in data labelling in India. The film follows an Indigenous woman who takes a job labelling data for AI systems.
The panel will discuss what changes when reporting becomes a script, how filmmakers build relationships with the communities whose lives they depict, and what ethical storytelling means when both the story and the production process engage with AI.
The event launches the Fireside Conversation series from South Asian Lens, a women-led collective connecting South Asian filmmakers and storytellers across the region and its diaspora. It comes as the Seattle-based organisation marks its first anniversary.
“We wanted to hear directly from the people who made that journey, and to share what they teach with every filmmaker just starting out,” said South Asian Lens co-founder Shailaja Rao.
The session is designed for emerging filmmakers and cinema students, but is open to anyone interested in how reported stories reach the screen. A 75-minute recorded conversation will be followed by a 45-minute unrecorded Community Lab, where attendees can speak with the panellists and one another. South Asian Lens says the recorded portion will be available later on its channels for those unable to attend live.
The free event begins on Sunday, 11 October, at 8 am PT, 11 am ET, 4 pm BST and 8.30 pm IST. In Australia, it begins on Monday, 12 October, at 2 am AEDT in Melbourne and Sydney, or 1 am AEST in Brisbane.
