Documentarians Confront AI's Ethical Challenges in Filmmaking

In November 2025, leading documentarians gathered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) to discuss the pressing issue of AI technology and its impact on the documentary film industry. The discussion centered around the possibilities and consequences of AI, as the form of documentary filmmaking is often tied to notions of truth and reality.

Oscar-nominated U.S. director and investigative reporter David France, who was at IDFA with his Sundance-breakout doc "Free Leonard Peltier," recalled using AI to obscure the identities of persecuted LGBTQIA individuals in his 2020 film "Welcome to Chechnya." This groundbreaking process, which involved digitally superimposing other people's faces onto the original subjects, was a necessary measure to protect their safety.

Similarly, France used AI to modify and rejuvenate the voice of activist Leonard Peltier in his latest film, as the original recordings were obtained illicitly since Peltier could not speak to journalists from prison. British filmmaker Marc Isaacs also experimented with AI, collaborating with a Romanian actress to create a half-real, half-digital character for his film "Synthetic Sincerity."

However, the documentarians expressed concerns about the impact of AI-generated footage on the public's trust in media and archives. Portuguese filmmaker Susana de Sousa Dias warned that the "documentary status of images becomes much easier to contest" with the rise of AI, and that there is a risk of people "stop believing anything." Emmy-winning filmmaker Eugen Bräunig emphasized the need for self-regulation and accountability in the industry, urging productions to create cue sheets detailing the use of AI technology.