Andrew Garfield’s Artificial to World Premiere at New York Film Festival
- Artificial, a dramatic feature film tracing two decades of machine learning research and the rise of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, will hold its world premiere on October 5...
- According to Film at Lincoln Center, the narrative begins in 2003 as Soviet-born computer scientist Ilya Sutskever studies artificial neural networks under University of Toronto professor Geoffrey Hinton,...
- The path to the festival stage involved notable corporate shifts behind the scenes.
Artificial, a dramatic feature film tracing two decades of machine learning research and the rise of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, will hold its world premiere on October 5 at Alice Tully Hall during the 64th New York Film Festival, according to Film at Lincoln Center. Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Simon Rich, the Neon release explores the technocratic path leading to the current artificial intelligence landscape, anchoring its narrative in real-world figures from the technology sector.
The festival screening brings Guadagnino back to Lincoln Center following previous selections including Call Me by Your Name and Queer. NYFF Artistic Director Dennis Lim stated via Film at Lincoln Center that the film finds a precise tone to examine the trajectory toward the artificial intelligence precipice with dark humor and existential urgency.
From Academic Neural Networks to OpenAI
According to Film at Lincoln Center, the narrative begins in 2003 as Soviet-born computer scientist Ilya Sutskever studies artificial neural networks under University of Toronto professor Geoffrey Hinton, widely known as the godfather of AI. A decade later, while working at Google, Sutskever crosses paths with a young entrepreneur named Sam Altman, who eventually becomes the co-founder and chief executive officer of OpenAI.
The film features Andrew Garfield as Altman and Yura Borisov as Sutskever, alongside Mark Rylance as Hinton. The supporting cast includes Monica Barbaro, Cooper Hoffman, Ike Barinholtz, Jason Schwartzman, and Chris O’Dowd, with an original score and songs composed by Damon Albarn.
Corporate Shifts and Festival Debut
The path to the festival stage involved notable corporate shifts behind the scenes. Amazon MGM Studios originally set up the project in early 2025 and finished production that autumn. However, Amazon dropped the film in June following a $50 billion corporate agreement with OpenAI regarding Amazon Web Services cloud functionality. Neon acquired the distribution rights almost immediately afterward.
The October 5 world premiere will feature director Guadagnino and members of the cast in attendance at Alice Tully Hall. The festival runs from September 25 through October 12, with single tickets going on sale to the general public on September 15.
