The National Film School of Denmark, at the cutting edge of training for industry professionals, is launching an intensive executive module course to train European film and TV professionals in the art of integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into their work.
With the use of AI becoming ever more commonplace as a business and workflow tool in the audiovisual industry, the School has joined forces with FilmForward, the Dutch leader in media-focused AI use, and Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) to design the Mastering AI for European Film Professionals programme.
The nine-month initiative, with both onsite and remote components, will provide insights into how to master AI integration across the audiovisual industry.
“The course is a direct, strategic response to an undeniable market reality, one that is too often disregarded by the EU’s industry as either a passing fad or an existential threat,” explains Sten Saluveer, head of studies/programme director for the course. Executive producer Angus Finney is also a course tutor.
As CEO of Storytek Innovationlab, Saluveer is a renowned thought-leader in the digital technology sphere, focusing on where it interacts with the film and TV sectors. He is also director of the Tallinn Digital Summit, a forum for political, technology, and business leaders and is head of Cannes Next and strategic advisor at the Cannes Marché du Film.
“Creatives must harness the technology, and now or never is the time to do it. The goal for me is not to get the industry to produce more AI content, but to empower AI-skilled leaders and filmmakers to make better films with AI,” says Saluveer of the course.
The course aims to equip participants with the skills and knowledge necessary to navigate and innovate in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.
Saluveer suggests most European film funders and institutions currently lack a comprehensive, articulated and market-responsive strategic approach to AI. “This leads to fear, avoidance, and a desire to ‘ban the technology.’ We are providing the necessary education initiative so our leaders have the best knowledge, best practices, and capacities and thus can ‘act on AI now’ and lead the industry forward, not be dragged along by it.”
The National Film School of Denmark is calling for applications from validated European audiovisual professionals with a minimum of five years of experience in the business.
It hopes to attract European producers, directors, writers, DOPs, distributors, exhibitors, financiers, executives, heads of department, technology & VFX leads, policymakers and educators.
The deadline to apply for one of 24 places on the course is February 18, 2026.
Strategic leadership is the most important skill with which participants will graduate, says Saluveer. “We are absolutely not training “prompt artists” or gimmick technicians. We are training C-level and managerial-level professionals: funders, commissioning editors, creative producers, executives, and managers who can harness AI in a way that is constructive, creative, compliant, and strategic,” he notes.
“A participant will leave with the ability to assess any new AI tool or workflow, grasp its strategic, commercial, creative, and ethical implications for their project or company.”
Through a string of comprehensive modules, the course will explore the impact of AI on creative storytelling, iterative learning, practical applications of AI tools, and strategic network development that enhances international and interdisciplinary knowledge sharing.
The quintet of modules comprise: AI Foundations & Change Management; Mastering Power Prompting & Creative Applications: Short Film Production; Ethics and Legal Perspectives; Business Applications and Development for Ethical AI in Europe; and Sustainability, Sales and Marketing & Final Presentations.
The programme will balance concentrated on-site modules with flexible online engagement and mentorship, ultimately aiming to enhance participants’ ability to leverage AI as a creative and productive tool in filmmaking.
Successful applicants will learn basic AI literacy and comprehension, pragmatic EU-sector and profession-specific AI workflows, and understanding ethics, copyright and IP.
There will also be sessions on developing AI-driven business models for industry sectors and facilitating knowledge sharing and organisational AI change.
“We are in a global race. The US is focused on ‘unrestrained development,’ funnelling hundreds of billions of dollars into projects such as ’Stargate’. The EU has also announced massive investment packages. But data consistently shows Europe is lagging significantly in the strategic implementation of AI in our sector,” Saluveer says.
“This is not a regulation, money or tech problem; it is essentially our common leadership problem. That is the gap we are aiming to address.”
Contact: sten@storytek.eu
No comments yet