When people discuss artificial intelligence in contemporary discourse, the conversation almost invariably drifts upward into the intangible ether of the cloud. Terms like "virtual," "digital," and "cloud-based" dominate how we conceptualize the technology, painting a picture of an effortless, clean revolution unfolding entirely in code. However, a new documentary feature from director Jannes Callens aims to firmly ground that conversation by tracing the physical, material reality that keeps the engines of artificial intelligence running day and night.
Entitled “The Technological Sublime,” the documentary is heading to the Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF) in Taipei, where its creative team hopes to forge international partnerships, engage with Asian audiences, and connect with potential sales agents and distributors. Rather than focusing on the software algorithms, corporate boardrooms, or futuristic sci-fi scenarios that typically dominate media coverage, the film turns its lens toward the sprawling, physical supply chain that makes AI possible.
The documentary’s geographical scope is as vast as the industry it examines. The production follows the raw materials and labor required to fuel artificial intelligence from their very origins. The journey begins at quartz mines nestled in the Appalachians, moves across the globe to Taiwan’s highly specialized chip-manufacturing plants, travels to the sprawling lithium fields of Chile, dives beneath the ocean’s surface to follow the massive fiber-optic cables running along the seabed, and finally ends up with the digital click-workers of Kenya who label and categorize data. Along this extensive route, the film sets out to document and interrogate what the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence truly costs both ordinary people and the planet.
For director Jannes Callens, the inspiration for the project stemmed from a deeply rooted creative interest in subjects that resist easy visualization. Callens explains that while people routinely talk about artificial intelligence as if it were something abstract, weightless, and invisible, initial research made it glaringly obvious that a massive, highly tangible ecosystem exists behind the persistent myth of "green" AI. When conducting an online image search for artificial intelligence, users are overwhelmingly met with stock imagery of humanlike robots, glowing circuits, and abstract binary code. The stark absence of visual documentation depicting the physical infrastructure underneath—the mines, the factories, the data centers, and the exploited labor force—pushed Callens to tackle the subject head-on.
The director emphasizes that his upcoming film is first and foremost a work of art, designed to grant him the unique opportunity to approach a pressing contemporary subject through a genuinely audiovisual medium. By blending striking imagery with deep investigative storytelling, Callens hopes to inject a much-needed sense of nuance into the broader public debate surrounding artificial intelligence. His ultimate goal is to capture the undeniable essence of modern technological miracles without remaining blind to the heavy material, ecological, and human costs that subsidize them.
Callens is no stranger to critically acclaimed documentary filmmaking. His previous project, “Dor (Longing),” chronicled the journey of a young man who decides to leave modern life behind and return to Romania to become a shepherd. The film resonated deeply within the international festival circuit, ultimately winning the Best Belgian Film award at the Brussels Independent Film Festival and earning an official selection at the prestigious Visions du Réel. While the first scenes of “The Technological Sublime” have already been successfully shot, the production team is currently navigating the final stages of securing the remaining financing required to complete the ambitious project. Simultaneously, Callens is flexing his creative muscles in the performing arts, crafting striking visual imagery for an upcoming stage play that explores humanity’s collective failure to properly perceive and face up to the escalating threat of climate change.
Delegate producer Steven Dhoedt brings a long-standing, professional fascination with emerging technology to the production. Dhoedt’s early career includes producing “Inside the Metaverse” (2010), a pioneering documentary that investigated the early buzz and cultural fascination surrounding virtual worlds long before tech giants like Facebook rebranded as Meta and thrust the concept back into the global spotlight.
Dhoedt notes that the current cultural moment surrounding artificial intelligence bears a striking resemblance to past technological manias. He points out that while there is an overwhelming amount of hype surrounding AI in contemporary culture, the technology remains an elusive abstraction for a vast majority of the population. When Callens first pitched his unique take on the subject, Dhoedt was immediately hooked. Instead of falling into the trap of taking a sensationalist, fear-mongering, or purely promotional route, the film opts for a timeless, highly grounded perspective. Dhoedt firmly believes that this measured, sober style of filmmaking is precisely the type of commentary on artificial intelligence that society needs right now.
With principal photography spanning four distinct continents, the film’s producers are actively seeking additional financial backers, co-production partners, and strategic alliances to bring the international project across the finish line. The project has already secured foundational support from Belgian broadcaster VRT, and discussions are currently underway with several other prominent European broadcasters to bring the film to broader television and streaming audiences.
The upcoming presentation at the Taiwan Creative Content Fest represents a major strategic milestone for the production. Dhoedt highlights that TCCF provides a vital platform to introduce the film to diverse audiences across Asia, a region that plays a foundational role in the very global hardware supply chain that the documentary investigates.
To help facilitate these international connections, the production team has partnered with James Chia-Hao Hsu of Reel Asia Pictures, a key partner based in Taiwan. Through this collaboration, the filmmakers hope to spark critical conversations with regional distributors and international sales agents while attending the festival in Taipei. “The Technological Sublime” is structured as a robust international co-production, bringing together Brussels-based production houses Visualantics and Cobra Films, Paris-based Tag Film, and Taipei-based Reel Asia Pictures.
The Taiwan Creative Content Fest, which is organized annually by the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), is scheduled to run from November 6 through November 9 at the sprawling Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center.
