Machine Cinema “GenTalks” Community Call
Hey everyone,
This Wednesday 10-11am PT / 1-2pm ET is our weekly digital get together to connect on how we are all making our way through this new era for creative industries and AI among other emergent technologies, sharing ideas, tips, knowledge amongst ourselves.
Also this week we are re-branding, these are our weekly "GenTalks"!
Our group is an amazing mix of creators/ producers/ builders/ some new to this stuff/ some OG/ all of us constantly learning.
You can join however you want - camera on, camera off. It's ok if you just want to listen, but it's more fun if you participate. We usually meet every two weeks.
This week we are joined by 3 exciting guests!
Adi Sideman - He runs Popcorn.co, the Vibe-Moviemaking platform that transforms ideas into full movies in minutes. A serial entrepreneur who's spent two decades democratizing creative expression through technology, he and his team are passionate about enabling self-expression through media. Prior to Popcorn, Adi founded YouNow, the live streaming platform that reached 120 million monthly sessions. He co-founded KSolo, the world's first online karaoke service (acquired by Fox/MySpace), and created 30+ consumer media apps including the official Matrix game for Warner Brothers. Backed by Union Square Ventures, Adi and his team are making movie directing as accessible as a word processor—enabling anyone to bring their vision to life through AI.
Maddie Hong and Julia Harris, AI Artists and Filmmakers
Fresh off their run at the Runway FF in NY and LA where they screened the film Maddie directed "Emergence" alongside the rest of their team including Kenny Miller, Rachel Leventhal, and Porter Hodgkiss, they'll share with us their journey on this film and their artists journeys before, and what they're looking ahead to after this great success.
Maddie Hong is a creative technologist and filmmaker specializing in using emerging technologies to achieve human creativity. Her career has spanned from technical AI artist work for companies such as Secret Level, to editing movie trailers, to technology teams at major studios such as Netflix. Her innovative AI filmmaking has been published in Forbes and Wired and has earned several accolades, including Finalist in Runway's Gen48 competition, Second Place in the Culver Cup sponsored by FBRC.AI and AWS, and official merit selection in Runway's 3rd Annual AI Film Festival. Maddie is also an educator and frequent public speaker, and has given presentations on AI filmmaking to Curious Refuge, the American Society of Cinematographers, and LA Tech Week and actively contributes industry research and programming for SMPTE, the Hollywood Professional Association, and the USC Entertainment Technology Center. Website: maddiehong.com; Socials: @hmdehong
Julia Harris is a Los Angeles–based creative director and filmmaker helping brands and communities tell bold, cinematic stories. She specializes in content that intersects AI, tech, and culture—with a background in digital media, documentary work, and branded campaigns. Julia is also the founder of Femme Creatives, a collective empowering women creators through events, storytelling, and education. Follow her on IG @juliaharris and @femme_creatives.
See you soon!
Fred and Minh