Humans in the Loop enters Oscars race, receives prestigious Sloan Grant

The critically acclaimed film Humans in the Loop has been awarded the Film Independent Sloan Distribution Grant, as it has officially qualified for Academy Awards consideration. The film, directed by Aranya Sahay, recently secured a US theatrical release.

The Sloan Distribution Grant, given by Film Independent and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, supports feature films that engage meaningfully with science or technology themes or characters. The grant is aimed at helping these films reach wider audiences through strategic release support. Over the last two decades, the grant has backed films like The Imitation Game, Hidden Figures, The Man Who Knew Infinity, and Oppenheimer.

Humans in the Loop tells the story of an Indigenous woman working at a rural data-annotation centre in India. The film examines the ethics and inequities of machine learning while foregrounding empathy, lived experience, and cultural knowledge.

Reacting to the grant, writer-actor Aranya Sahay says, “We are at a cusp with artificial intelligence, and humanity needs to take responsibility for the kind of AI and the kind of future we are building. I'm deeply grateful to Film Independent and the Sloan Foundation for allowing us to take this conversation across the US. Humans in the Loop is about the human heartbeat inside technology, and this grant recognises the people whose labour and stories often remain unseen.”

The film's producer, Mathivanan Rajendran, adds, “Through Humans in the Loop and our work at the Museum of Imagined Futures, we've been creating space for technologists and creatives to rethink how stories about technology are told.”

Following its U.S. theatrical release and meeting other eligibility criteria, Humans in the Loop has officially qualified to be a contender for the 98th Academy Awards. According to a press release from the makers, the film will compete in the Best Original Screenplay category.

Earlier this month, the producers onboarded Misaq Kazimi as Executive Producer to lead the film's US distribution strategy, which the grant will support further.

Source: Hindustan Times
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