The Infinite Frames Short Film Festival screened 15 short films produced by students from the University of Hong Kong, the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, the Vienna University of Technology, and Izmir University of Economics.

These films were selected from a variety of film-related courses with urban themes and are based on UN Sustainable Development Goal SDG 11.

This is part of Nik Ettel ́s research on visual communication and creative expression between cultural practitioners, teachers, and students. After the screening, a public discussion took place with invited professional filmmakers and students to inform the audience about the fruitful potential of filmmaking with artificial intelligence (GenAI) [SDG 4].

The students benefited from the presentation of internationally produced short films and had the opportunity to explore filmmaking as an interdisciplinary endeavor [SDG 17].

The Hong Kong-based contributions for this evening were selected by various film courses at the University of Hong Kong in a jury process and were enriched by renowned colleagues such as Ms. DI Marlene Rutzendorfer (co- founder of Architektur.Film. Sommer at the Architektur Zentrum Wien and lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna) and Dr.techn. DI Inge Manka (senior scientist at the Vienna University of Technology).

Our jury, consisting of Oscar winner Prof. Ruby Yang and filmmaker Prof. Uli Gaulke, selected the contribution “When the Bell Rings” as the winner of the evening, which will soon be shown at the Movies in Wonderland Film Festival in Austria.

A total of 26 HKU students, 2 TU Vienna students, and 2 Izmir WU students attended this screening.

Honorary guests: Prof. Ian Holliday, Vice-President (Teaching and Learning), The University of Hong Kong

• Prof. Julian Tanner, Common Core Director, The University of Hong Kong
• Dr. Jack Tsao, Common Core Associate Director, The University of Hong Kong
• Prof. Uli Gaulke, Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong
• Prof. Ruby Yang, Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong

Image: Opening at Tai Kwun Laundry Steps