UMBC Professor Eric Millikin’s film The Dance of the Nain Rouge has been selected for presentation at the Bali International AI Film Festival. The video, soundtrack, and voiceover were all created with custom artificial intelligence systems, programmed and trained on a hacked-up second-hand MacBook laptop to minimize environmental destruction and maximize class warfare. You can watch a short trailer here.

The film is based on the legend of the Nain Rouge (“Red Dwarf") of Detroit. According to folklore and urban legend, it is a shape-shifting native being who was brutally attacked by xenophobic colonists and has since been seen dancing as an omen of successful rebellions by the oppressed--reportedly manifesting before events such as the victory of Chief Pontiac at the Battle of Bloody Run in 1763 and the 1967 Detroit Rebellion.