UNESCO MIL Week 2025: Media Literacy Guides AI Filmmaking

UNESCO's Global Media and Information Literacy Week 2025 takes place October 23 to 24 in Cartagena, Colombia, under the theme "Minds Over AI – MIL in Digital Spaces." The event marks a shift in how international institutions frame AI's role in creative industries: not as a threat to be banned, but as a collaborative tool that requires literacy, ethics, and transparency to function responsibly.

For filmmakers, the October 2025 agenda offers practical guidance. The week features sessions on media in the AI driven era, content provenance, ethics in production, and children's cinema. These discussions translate UNESCO's broad policy goals into specific practices for creators working with AI tools.

The timing is deliberate. UNESCO scheduled MIL Week to coincide with World Day for Audiovisual Heritage programming at UNESCO Cinema in Paris on October 23. The pairing connects preservation with innovation, heritage with emerging technology, and established practices with new workflows.

What MIL Week Actually Proposes

Media and Information Literacy, in UNESCO's framework, means the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and participate with media in all formats. Applied to AI filmmaking, this translates to specific competencies:

Understanding how AI systems work. Creators and audiences should grasp what AI tools can and cannot do, how training data influences outputs, and where human decisions remain essential.

Critical evaluation of AI generated content. Viewers need skills to identify AI generated media and assess its accuracy, bias, and intent. Creators need to understand when their AI assisted work meets quality and ethical standards.

Ethical creation practices. Filmmakers using AI tools should follow transparent workflows, obtain appropriate permissions, credit sources, and maintain human oversight of creative decisions.

Inclusive access. AI filmmaking capabilities should be available to diverse creators, not concentrated among well funded studios or specific demographics.

The MIL Week 2025 programme includes sessions that address each of these areas through panels, workshops, and presentations from international experts.

Key Sessions for Filmmakers

The Cartagena programme features several sessions directly relevant to film and video production:

News Rewired: Media in the AI Driven Era. This session examines how AI affects journalism and documentary filmmaking, with implications for fact checking, source verification, and audience trust.

AI in the Classroom. Educational applications of AI connect to filmmaking through training, skill development, and preparing the next generation of creators to use these tools responsibly.

Content Provenance Workshops. Technical sessions cover metadata standards, watermarking, and documentation practices that establish clear origins for AI generated or AI assisted content.

Ethics in Production Side Events. Discussions about consent, compensation, and creative rights explore how filmmakers can use AI tools while respecting performers, writers, and other contributors.

Children's Cinema Programming. Special focus on protecting young audiences and young creators in the age of AI generated content, addressing both viewing safety and production participation.

These sessions move beyond general AI anxiety to provide actionable frameworks for filmmakers navigating these tools in daily practice.

The Fear Narrative: Paris Conference Context

Understanding MIL Week 2025's constructive approach requires context from earlier conversations. In September 2024, UNESCO hosted a conference in Paris that captured Hollywood's anxieties about AI at their peak.

Director Joseph McGinty Nichol (McG) articulated an apocalyptic vision. "This is a very serious moment," he said. "Have a look around at what these AI machines are doing. It will blow your mind. They are creative. They are emulating human behaviour."

McG predicted that hundreds of thousands of film industry jobs, including actors, writers, and visual effects artists, could be replaced by AI within decades. His concern centered on AI's rapid improvement. "This is 1.0," he explained. "For now we can't just say, 'Hey I like Pulp Fiction. Can I see the sequel to Pulp Fiction?' It's not there yet but it's coming very rapidly."

The director worried about distinguishing human created work from AI outputs. "I think given the degree to which it is improving itself, it's going to be very difficult to tell Almodóvar apart from AI, which breaks my heart, but I think that's how powerful AI is becoming."

This fear framework dominated much media coverage of AI and filmmaking through 2024. The narrative positioned AI as an existential threat requiring resistance or prohibition.

Duncan Crabtree Ireland: From Fear to Framework

Duncan Crabtree Ireland, SAG-AFTRA's National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator, delivered the keynote at the Paris conference. His perspective acknowledged fears while proposing constructive responses.

"Each actor has just one face, just one voice," Crabtree Ireland stated. "If the companies have free rein to train their AI algorithms on those faces and voices then the actor's career could potentially be over."

But rather than calling for AI prohibition, he advocated for specific protections. "Our union won't be advocating for AI to be stopped or banned from use in the entertainment industry," he explained. "But we do believe companies using AI technology must be required to secure the informed consent of any individuals whose voice, performance, likeness or commercial property is being replicated or used to generate new material."

His framework centered on three principles: informed consent, fair compensation, and transparency. These became the foundation for SAG-AFTRA's 2023 strike demands and eventual contract achievements.

Crabtree Ireland emphasized that individual workers shouldn't fight this battle alone. "Human workers shouldn't bear the burden of taking on this fight alone," he said. "Those lawmakers who take the initiative in drafting and passing enforceable protections will be the heroes of the coming decades."

He called for international institutional coordination. "There is a crucial, central role to be played by key international institutions in research, education, best practices and even norm setting. Imagine the good that could be done through collaboration between UNESCO, the world's intellectual property organisation and the International Labour Organisation."

This institutional focus connects directly to MIL Week 2025's agenda, which brings together educators, policymakers, technologists, and creative professionals to develop shared frameworks.

Optimistic Voices: Christóbal Valenzuela and Runway

The Paris conference also featured perspectives emphasizing AI's creative potential. Christóbal Valenzuela, Chilean born CEO of Runway, represents this optimistic strand.

Runway's technology was used in the Oscar winning film Everything, Everywhere All at Once. Valenzuela describes AI as a groundbreaking tool that democratizes filmmaking by making it quicker, easier, and cheaper.

"I think this can open up filmmaking to more people," Valenzuela said. He positions AI as the latest in cinema's long history of technological change. "The history of cinema is a history of a lot of changes even in the 1800s."

This democratization argument appears frequently in AI filmmaking discussions. The claim is that lowering technical and financial barriers enables more diverse voices to create professional quality content.

The tension between McG's replacement fears and Valenzuela's democratization hopes frames much of the current debate. MIL Week 2025 attempts to move past this binary toward practical policies that address legitimate concerns while enabling beneficial applications.

What Changed Between Paris 2024 and Cartagena 2025

The shift from the Paris conference's anxiety to MIL Week's constructive agenda reflects broader industry evolution over the past year.

SAG-AFTRA's contract victory. The union secured AI protections in its 2023 strike settlement, establishing precedent for informed consent and compensation. This demonstrated that negotiated frameworks could address fears without prohibiting technology.

California legislation. Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2602 and AB 1836 in September 2024, establishing legal protections for both living and deceased performers against unauthorized AI digital replicas. Similar laws emerged in Illinois and Tennessee.

Studios' cautious approach. Crabtree Ireland noted in April 2025 that studios have generally taken a "relatively cautious approach to developing and moving forward with plans related to AI." This temperance reduces immediate threats while allowing careful experimentation.

Improved literacy. More filmmakers, performers, and audiences understand what AI actually does versus early 2023 when ChatGPT's release shocked many. Better understanding enables more nuanced policy discussions.

Proven collaborative uses. Films like Everything, Everywhere All at Once demonstrated AI as a production tool rather than replacement, providing concrete examples of beneficial integration.

These developments created space for UNESCO's 2025 agenda to focus on literacy, ethics, and inclusion rather than prohibition or resistance.

Audiovisual Heritage and AI: The Paris Connection

MIL Week's October 23 to 24 dates align with World Day for Audiovisual Heritage programming at UNESCO Cinema in Paris on October 23. This scheduling connects two crucial themes: preservation and innovation.

Audiovisual heritage work involves preserving films, videos, and recordings for future access. This requires technical standards, metadata practices, and institutional commitment. The field has extensive experience managing technological transitions, from nitrate film to digital formats.

AI's impact on audiovisual heritage operates in both directions. Existing archives can train AI models, raising questions about permission and compensation for historical material. Conversely, AI generated or AI assisted content needs preservation strategies that maintain provenance information and technical requirements for future access.

The Paris programming emphasizes that heritage and innovation are complementary rather than opposing forces. Responsible AI filmmaking requires thinking about archival requirements from the production phase: file formats, edit decision lists, rights documentation, and metadata standards.

For filmmakers, this means considering long term accessibility when adopting AI tools. Will the files you generate today be readable in 20 years? Can future researchers understand what AI tools were used and how? Does your workflow documentation support preservation efforts?

These questions might seem distant from immediate production concerns, but they matter for any filmmaker whose work has potential lasting value.

Practical Framework for Filmmakers

Based on UNESCO's MIL Week 2025 agenda and the Paris conference discussions, a practical framework for AI filmmaking emerges:

Consent and Rights

Obtain explicit consent from performers before creating or using AI replicas of their voice, likeness, or performance. Document these permissions clearly. Compensate fairly for any AI use of someone's identity or work.

For deceased performers, secure estate permissions. California law requires this; professional ethics do too.

Disclosure and Transparency

Identify AI tools in credits or production documentation. Specify which aspects of the work used AI assistance. This transparency helps audiences understand what they're viewing and supports other creators learning from your techniques.

Track which AI models and datasets you used. This matters for rights clearance, reproduction, and understanding potential biases or limitations.

Provenance and Metadata

Implement content provenance practices where feasible. This includes watermarking, metadata standards, and documentation that establishes clear origins for AI generated or AI assisted elements.

Standards evolve rapidly in this space. Stay current with industry initiatives around content authenticity and technical specifications.

Diversity and Inclusion

Ensure your AI training data and prompting strategies don't perpetuate narrow representations. Actively work to include diverse voices, cultures, and perspectives in AI assisted projects.

Support access to AI tools for creators from underrepresented backgrounds. The technology's democratization potential only matters if it actually reaches diverse communities.

Archival Planning

Use file formats and documentation practices that support long term preservation. Consider how future archivists will understand and access your work.

Maintain detailed records of production processes, including AI tool versions, prompts, and generation parameters. This documentation becomes part of the work's historical record.

Human Creative Control

Keep human judgment central to creative decisions. Use AI as a tool that augments rather than replaces human creativity, storytelling, and emotional intelligence.

Recognize AI's limitations. Current systems excel at technical tasks but struggle with nuance, cultural context, and emotional truth. These remain human domains.

The Vienna Connection: Regional UNESCO Activity

MIL Week represents global policy discussions, but regional UNESCO activities provide local context. On October 8, 2025, UNESCO Austria hosted an event explicitly about AI, culture, and creativity in Vienna.

This regional programming shows UNESCO's multi level approach. Global frameworks established at events like MIL Week get adapted to specific cultural contexts through national and regional UNESCO offices.

For filmmakers, this means AI policy develops through both international standards and local regulations. Understanding both levels matters for anyone working across borders or planning international distribution.

AI for Good Summit: Multi Org Alignment

UNESCO doesn't work in isolation. The ITU's AI for Good Summit 2025 included an AI Film Festival and governance programming, showing multiple UN bodies addressing similar issues.

This coordination matters because AI filmmaking intersects intellectual property (WIPO), labor rights (ILO), cultural policy (UNESCO), and technical standards (ITU). Effective governance requires these organizations working together rather than developing contradictory frameworks.

For filmmakers, multi org alignment eventually produces more consistent international standards, making it easier to work across jurisdictions and markets.

The UNESCO Courier Perspective: Photography Wasn't the End of Painting

On October 3, 2025, the UNESCO Courier published "Artificial intelligence and art: a decisive moment?" The article makes a historical argument that appears frequently in AI filmmaking discussions.

When photography emerged in the 19th century, painters worried the new technology would make their craft obsolete. Similar concerns greeted cinema's arrival. Yet painting survived and evolved. Photography became its own art form. Cinema created new creative possibilities.

The Courier applies this pattern to AI and filmmaking. The technology will change the field but not eliminate human creativity. New forms will emerge. Existing practices will adapt. Both can coexist.

This historical perspective informs UNESCO's constructive rather than prohibitionist approach. The organization has witnessed multiple technological transitions in creative fields over 80 years. The pattern suggests managing change thoughtfully rather than resisting inevitability.

For filmmakers, this framing reduces apocalyptic thinking while acknowledging real challenges. AI requires adaptation, not surrender.

What Filmmakers Should Watch for After MIL Week

UNESCO's MIL Week 2025 programming represents policy discussions, not final standards. The event launches conversations and initiatives that will develop over coming months and years.

Filmmakers should monitor:

Session recordings and proceedings. UNESCO typically publishes documentation from major conferences. These materials provide detailed insights into specific recommendations and frameworks.

Follow up policy proposals. The conference will likely generate recommendations that UNESCO member states consider for national or international adoption. These policy discussions shape future regulations.

Educational initiatives. MIL Week's emphasis on literacy means UNESCO and partner organizations will develop training materials, curricula, and resources for filmmakers learning to work with AI tools responsibly.

Industry partnerships. The event brings together policymakers, educators, and practitioners. Relationships formed at MIL Week may produce collaborative projects addressing specific challenges.

Regional implementations. Global frameworks get adapted to local contexts through national UNESCO offices and cultural ministries. Watch for regional variations on MIL Week themes.

The Bigger Picture: Why MIL Matters for AI Cinema

Media and Information Literacy might sound like academic jargon, but it addresses practical problems in AI filmmaking.

Audiences need skills to evaluate AI generated content critically. Without literacy, they can't distinguish high quality human directed AI use from low effort automated output. This literacy gap threatens to devalue all AI assisted work regardless of its actual merit.

Creators need literacy to use AI tools effectively and ethically. Technical skill operating the software is insufficient without understanding how the tools work, what biases they contain, and what responsibilities accompany their use.

Policymakers need literacy to craft regulations that protect legitimate interests without stifling beneficial innovation. Many current AI policy proposals demonstrate limited understanding of how filmmaking actually works.

UNESCO's MIL framework recognizes that technology problems often have literacy solutions. Rather than writing detailed technical regulations that quickly become obsolete, develop population level competencies that adapt as technology evolves.

For filmmakers, engaging with MIL concepts means taking responsibility for your own AI literacy, helping audiences develop theirs, and contributing to policy discussions with practical expertise.

Key Takeaways from UNESCO's October 2025 Agenda

UNESCO's Global Media and Information Literacy Week 2025 in Cartagena positions media literacy as the foundation for ethical AI filmmaking. The theme "Minds Over AI – MIL in Digital Spaces" emphasizes human judgment guided by literacy, ethics, and inclusion.

The October 23 to 24 programming includes sessions on AI in media, content provenance, ethics, and education. These translate UNESCO's broad framework into specific practices for filmmakers working with AI tools.

MIL Week coincides with World Day for Audiovisual Heritage programming in Paris, connecting preservation with innovation and emphasizing that AI filmmaking must consider long term archival requirements.

The 2025 agenda represents evolution from the fear dominated Paris 2024 conference toward constructive frameworks based on consent, transparency, compensation, and access. This shift reflects industry progress including SAG-AFTRA's contract victory and California's AI protection legislation.

Practical filmmaking implications include obtaining consent for AI replicas, disclosing AI tool use, implementing content provenance practices, ensuring diversity in training data and outputs, planning for archival preservation, and maintaining human creative control.

UNESCO's approach emphasizes literacy over prohibition, institutional coordination over isolated policies, and managed adaptation over technological resistance. The MIL Week 2025 programming provides specific direction for filmmakers navigating these tools responsibly.

Sources and Additional Reading

UNESCO Global Media and Information Literacy Week 2025

UNESCO MIL Week 2025 Programme

UNESCO Global Media and Information Literacy Week Overview

UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2025

UNESCO Courier: Artificial Intelligence and Art: A Decisive Moment?

UNESCO Austria: AI & Creativity Event

AI for Good Summit 2025 Programme

AI for Good Film Festival

Euronews: How AI Is Reshaping Filmmaking

SAG-AFTRA: Keeping the Workforce Human in the Age of AI

Fast Company: Duncan Crabtree-Ireland Fighting for Actors' Rights

Deadline: SAG-AFTRA's Duncan Crabtree-Ireland on AI