Cultural evolution: the introduction of AI and the preservation of traditions were discussed in St. Petersburg

The fruits of film cooperation with China, Leva's neuroexcourer, the fabulous battle at the New Year's box office, the federal law on theater and, of course, widespread cooperation with artificial intelligence — these topics were raised at the XII Forum of United Cultures in St. Petersburg, which started on September 24 in the Northern Capital. Traditionally, Russian institutions have signed a number of agreements and memoranda, and leading players in various cultural industries have shared their successes and current challenges. "Izvestia" collected the most interesting events of the first days of the forum.

Russian-Chinese locomotive

The Hermitage Headquarters has once again become the central venue of the United Cultures Forum. However, the program went far beyond the museum — events were held in Gatchina and Tsarskoye Selo, among others. But it was at the Palace Square that the most important guests from 70 countries came to talk about pressing problems, propose solutions, share achievements and discuss pressing issues.

One of the most notable cinematic premieres of the first day was the teaser trailer for the movie "Black Silk". The creators have finally revealed one of the main secrets of the project: the Russian film was first shot in Zhangjiajie National Park in China, a location that became the prototype of the soaring mountains in James Cameron's blockbuster "Avatar".

— On the one hand, this is a continuation of the very successful and beloved film "Red Silk", but on the other hand, it is a completely separate story. ""And even those viewers who haven't watched "Red Silk" can safely go to "Black". They will find an even more exciting and vivid picture with their old favorite characters and new characters. For example, the legendary Soviet intelligence officer Richard Sorge appears, played by Maxim Matveev," Svetlana Balanova, Director General of NMG, told "Izvestia".

This time, the action will shift to Shanghai in the 1930s, a city of luxury, spy games and deadly secrets. Milos Bikovic will once again play the role of Nikolai Garin, while Gleb Kalyuzhny and Chinese actress Zheng Hanyi will return to their characters.

The cast also includes Serbian actor Aleksandar Radojicic, who has already become popular with Russian viewers thanks to the fantastic blockbuster "It's Hard to be a God." The actor talks about his character with enthusiasm.

— He's the antagonist of Milos' character. At the same time, he is very educated and speaks four languages. He's German in the story, but I had to learn the lines in Japanese, English, and French. Therefore, it was incredibly interesting for me to play this role," Radojicic admitted to "Izvestia".

What exactly is "black silk", the audience has yet to find out. This is one of the main mysteries of the painting. In the meantime, general producer Vadim Byrkin told "Izvestia" that the events of the film are based on a real Russian-Chinese story. And in the upcoming blockbuster, not only the scope of the image is important, but also the scope of the ideas. The film will be widely released in the spring of 2027.

Another powerful project is "Alpine Ballad". The film was shot in Serbia, where Russian cinema is already accepted as native. The reason, according to the creators, is the proximity of the values that broadcast domestic films to an international audience.

— We have a similar attitude to life, friendship, love, and family. We are also close to faith. ""We understand the Russian soul," Radojicic told Izvestia.

Have you played enough

The forum also has its own visual illustration of the technological agenda. Sessions were often accompanied by graphics created using AI. While the speakers were saying that artificial intelligence would not replace living art, neural network images of Russian beauties in kokoshniks and animated portraits of Gogol, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy seemed to hint at the opposite.

No topic on the first day has caused as much controversy as AI. A few years ago, at the same forum, the conversation about him was built around two poles — opportunities and fears. Now the situation has changed. Artificial intelligence has become a part of life and culture. And then everyone decides for themselves what to do with it.

Like the Hermitage, you can restore world masterpieces using neural networks or create an animated exhibition with elements of augmented reality. Or, as the Museum of Modern History of Russia, to train and launch a neuroexcourser Lev. Thanks to this, according to Irina Velikanova, the general director of the museum, 2.5 million people visited the museum virtually and physically.

However, the participants in the discussion had markedly different attitudes towards the prospects of technology. Mikhail Shvydkoi, Special Representative of the President of Russia for International Cultural Cooperation, drew attention to the fundamental limitation of AI: the neural network itself does not have values.

— I really like the phrase from Ilf's notes: "People thought that when they learned how to transmit thoughts over a wire telegraph, there would be universal happiness. But there is a radio, but there is no happiness." So we have AI, but it doesn't give us happiness. Neural networks lead to the degradation of public consciousness. And if we're joking with them now, then we won't be joking anymore," Shvydkoi warned.

However, large corporations are actively integrating advanced technologies into their work. Svetlana Balanova, CEO of the National Media Group, noted that using these tools allows the company to save up to 10% of its production budget. NMG not only revives old photographs and creates historical reconstructions for its documentary and historical projects, but also significantly speeds up production. Previously, announcements and digests took 10-15 minutes, but now they are prepared in 25 seconds.

Another area is animation. No matter how much the media giants want to keep talented artists on staff, the speed of such manual labor is extremely low. And this, according to Svetlana Balanova, is acceptable for author's animation, but it hinders large-scale production. As an example, she demonstrated an animated video created in collaboration with AI and CTC artists.

Theater services

While some areas are looking for safe and profitable points of intersection with artificial intelligence, the theater is dealing with fundamental issues. Vladimir Mashkov, Chairman of the STD and artistic director of the Theater, presented the Concept of the development of the Russian theater for the next 10 years.

It includes 10 points and affects the touring and economic policy, the availability of theaters throughout the country, as well as the very status of this institution. Now the theater belongs to the service sector. However, according to the participants of the discussion, it should take the position of an educational institution.

Sergei Bezrukov, Artistic Director of the Gorky Moscow Art Theater, noted: As soon as the theater's status changes from a needs—based service sector to an educational institution, "then not a single spectator will stand up and say: give me the money for the ticket, I didn't like it." The most important thing, according to him, is the popularization of the Russian theater in the world.

The law on theater remains a separate issue. According to Mikhail Shvydkoi, it will be very difficult to accept it, although the need for such a document arose before the 1990s.

The battle for the viewer and values

However, values were most actively discussed at the evening sessions. Nikita Mikhalkov's performance was a key event. "First," he showed the audience selected fragments of his author's program "Besogon," and then told them what values modern Russian cinema should carry and why the Diamond Butterfly Award supports Eurasian projects rather than Hollywood ones. As a reference, the director cited the example of Iranian cinematographer Majid Majidi.

While Mikhalkov was celebrating Majidi's achievements, in the next room, the mastodons of the film industry were discussing how fairy tales had captured distribution. And on this New Year's Eve, as many as seven magical stories will compete for the audience's attention. And between the producers, using Sergey Selyanov's terminology, a physical stabbing will unfold.

As in previous years, the forum has become not only a platform for discussions, but also a place for signing official international documents. The State Hermitage Museum has signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Sichuan Museum, the Russian National Museum of Music with the Chinese Conservatory, and the State Russian Museum with the Ilya Repin Academy of Arts.

Culture is changing rapidly. Neural networks are speeding up production, museums are mastering digital technologies, AI can restore a painting, bring a photograph to life and do in seconds what previously took hours. But the meaning for which all this is created still has to be searched for by a person. And, judging by the first days of the United Cultures Forum, it is this search that is the main cultural plot of the new age.