HUMANCENTRIC

HUMANCENTRIC started with a single scene. Efthimis Filippou wrote a bar-room confrontation between a grieving lieutenant and a barman; his screen credits include The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and Kinds of Kindness. MikeTeevee then gave that scene to eight artists working with AI as part of their process, on one condition: the dialogue could not change.

From that single page, eight very different films emerged: Not Finished Yet by Blumquist, The Hunter by Gizem Akdağ and Ege Berkina Akdağ, Patternson by DoopiiDoo, Ladder by Anna Réka and David Szauder, The Regular by Veronika Pell, Something Came Over Me by REO, Scoria by Infrarouge, and Crow Bar by MikeTeevee's own team. The lieutenant and the barman move through settings that range from noir to surreal to flatly uncanny, sharing almost nothing beyond the words each character says.

"When I started writing scripts 20 years ago, I was really annoyed by the fact that the film created had nothing to do with what I had imagined," said Efthimis Filippou. "Now I know that 'this had nothing to do with what I had imagined' is the best thing that can happen to a script. And to know it happened eight times, what a pleasure."

Ellen Utrecht, founder of MikeTeevee, framed the project's real question differently: "AI gives more people access to increasingly powerful creative capabilities. But the technology isn't the most interesting part. HUMANCENTRIC wondered what would make the difference if everyone has access to the same tools. The answer, for us, is still human perspective, curiosity, and the choices you make."

The films first reached audiences through an installation at AI on the Lot in Los Angeles (27.–28. Mai 2026 in Culver City), where visitors spun a Wheel of Fortune to choose which film they would see, then stepped into a curtained booth to watch it alone. MikeTeevee counts that installation as a ninth interpretation of the scene, built through space and audience choice rather than through camera and edit.