AI and Screenwriting in Practice

This interactive conversation, situated within a broader academic reflection on the relationship between artificial intelligence and storytelling, critically examines the issues of representation, collective memory, and cultural transmission at stake in contemporary screenwriting practices.

As AI becomes increasingly involved in the construction of narratives, how can writers resist the reproduction of stereotypes, clichés, and inherited imaginaries embedded in systems shaped by our collective memory?

How can you participate? Join us in person or online by registering for the Zoom Meeting or watching live on YouTube. 

Have questions? Send them to info.4@concordia.ca

Christian Beltrami
Producer and AI Expert in Residence at Concordia University

Christian Beltrami has worked internationally at the intersection of technology, storytelling, and the audiovisual industries, exploring how emerging tools, and now AI, can amplify narrative forms and strengthen the impact of film and media. During his residency at Concordia University, Beltrami will lead a three-credit intensive undergraduate course, offered from May 11 to June 1, 2026, alongside a year-long series of public events beginning in April 2026.

Guylaine Dionne
Faculty Member, Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema; researcher, independent filmmaker, and screenwriter

Guylaine Dionne has directed several short and feature films that have received numerous awards. Her first feature film, Les Fantômes des Trois Madeleines, had its world premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. The film went on to enjoy a distinguished international festival run in Portugal, Korea, Belgium, France, Italy, and Canada, and received several awards, including the Don Quijote Prize, presented by the European Federation of Film Societies, and the International Critics’ Prize.

With Mary Shelley, Dionne received the 2004 Lanterna Magica Award for Best Documentary at the Tours Festival. She was also the recipient of the 2006 Don Haig Award, recognizing her achievements in both fiction and documentary filmmaking. In 2009, she directed Waitresses Wanted (Serveuses demandées), a feature-length fiction film that received an international theatrical release.

In June 2018, the Cinémathèque québécoise premiered the documentary Contemporary Women Filmmakers: The State of Things as part of its summer program Femmes, Femmes, devoted to the history of women directors in cinema. Co-directed with Rosanna Maule, this 164-minute film was the result of eight years of research and creative work, and was later presented at the Seoul International Women’s Film Festival. Her most recent documentary, Jazz Club Owner, follows the daily life of Joel Giberovitch, owner and artistic director of Upstairs, a small jazz club in downtown Montreal.

Dionne is a full-time professor at Concordia University in Montreal and is currently developing a research-creation project on the effects of artificial intelligence on addressing the lack of diversity in representation in screenwriting for film.

Marco Luna
Part-time Faculty, Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema; technologist at the Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology

Marco Luna is a Peruvian documentary filmmaker, educator, and immersive media researcher whose work explores cinema as a tool for social change. He holds an MFA in Studio Arts (Film Production) from Concordia University and specializes in documentary filmmaking, virtual reality, and interactive storytelling. His work emphasizes co-creation, social engagement, and emerging technologies.

As a part-time faculty member at Concordia University’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, Luna teaches courses in film editing, filmmaking, and interactive VR cinema, encouraging students to integrate new media into their storytelling practices. He is also a technologist at the Milieux Immersive Storytelling Studio, where he mentors students and artists working on VR and AR projects and supports experimentation with immersive narrative forms. Previously, he served as a research associate with the Concordia Research Chair in Interactive Documentary Filmmaking, contributing to the development of interactive documentary methodologies.

Allison Moore
Part-time Faculty, Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema; new media artist

Allison Moore is a new media artist specializing in expanded cinema, based in Tiohtià:ke / Montreal. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Film Production from Concordia University. Her work has been presented at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Grand Théâtre de Québec, the Society for Arts and Technology (Montreal), Ars Electronica, Tokyo Arts and Space, MUTEK, and ISEA.

Her recent projects explore storytelling in digital art, video mapping across landscapes and architecture, virtual reality, site-specific public art, and performance. Moore’s work reinterprets and reconstructs the world as a metaphorical landscape in which sentient beings exist in synergy with an allegorical macrocosm. She also works as a freelance editor, composer, and animator, and currently teaches part-time at Concordia University’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. Her video design for Cyclorama by Laurence Dauphinais earned her a 2023 META Award nomination for Outstanding Contribution to Theatre.