Peter Chan Ho-sun has officially planted his flag, and it is not made of pixels. The director behind “Comrades: Almost a Love Story” told a crowd at the Singapore International Film Festival’s Grand Ballroom at Marina Bay Sands that two-hour movies will survive the short-form onslaught, according to Variety. Is he right, or just a guy who really loves sitting in a dark room for 120 minutes? Either way, he is drawing a very firm line in the sand about AI.
The AIGC Line In The Sand
Chan made it clear that artificial intelligence will probably have some role in his filmmaking process going forward. But when it comes to AIGC, which stands for AI-generated content, he did not mince words. “Definitely not AIGC,” he said. That is about as blunt as a director can get without throwing a camera at someone. He was not vague about his reasoning either.
Chan said he would treat AI as a technique, the same way the industry already treats computer-generated imagery, or CGI. “Anything that helps me make movies, I welcome,” he said. “But they won’t know art. Movies are still made by people.” The principle is clear. He welcomes the technology but not the machines pretending to be artists.
Two Extremes Walk Into A Cinema
His reasoning for feature films surviving is actually pretty funny because it rests on two opposite trends at once. Younger viewers are flocking to short and vertical dramas because their attention spans are basically the length of a TikTok dance. Meanwhile, a whole other group of people is settling in for podcasts that run for hours and hours.
“So there are two completely opposite ends of the spectrum that are surviving and thriving simultaneously,” Chan said. “So I believe that movie will be around for a long, long time.” Honestly, the man has a point. People either want a three-minute plot twist or a four-hour conversation about the JFK assassination. If audiences have the patience for a four-hour podcast, they can probably handle a two-hour movie, and apparently it is not going anywhere.
Nolan And The Podcast Defense
Chan brought up Christopher Nolan as proof that long-form appetite is alive and well. According to Chan, Nolan did podcast appearances all over the world to explain the purist, 1950s-style approach he took to making “Oppenheimer.” Think about that for a second. A major director went on podcasts to explain why he made his movie the old-fashioned way. That is either genius marketing or a cry for help. Either way, it worked.
Chan seems to think this proves that people will still show up for a proper feature film if you give them a reason. I am choosing to believe him because the alternative is a future where everything is a vertical drama about a CEO who secretly loves his assistant.
The Same Chan, Seven Months Earlier
Anyone framing the Singapore speech as a sunny reversal needs to check the calendar. Back in March 2026 at Hong Kong FilMart, Chan sounded gloomier. “Those days of the blockbusters are gone,” he said then. He went as far as predicting AI could replace blockbusters and commercial films within three years, while insisting it would be “an enemy to mediocre blockbusters” and not to auteur films. Seven months is a long time in the movie business, but the two positions are not actually in conflict.
Chan welcomes AI as a tool and rejects AI-generated art. He also thinks mediocre commercial films are in trouble. Same argument, better lighting. I prefer the gloomy version because it is more honest about what is actually happening to the industry, but I will take either one over a director pretending everything is fine.
Thirty Years Of Almost A Love Story
This year marks the 30th anniversary of “Comrades: Almost a Love Story,” which Chan made in his early 30s as his seventh feature. The film follows Hong Kong from the mid-1980s to 1995, and Chan admits it probably only barely recouped its investment when it first came out. Barely breaking even is not exactly a flop, especially for a movie that swept nine Hong Kong Film Awards, including best film. But the influence of that movie outpaced its ticket sales by a mile.
Chan left Hong Kong on Christmas Eve 1996 and came back about 2½ years later. Only after he returned did he realize how deeply the film had resonated with filmmakers in mainland China, South Korea and Southeast Asia.
“That movie gave me a lease of movie life for the next 30 years, until now,” he said. Imagine making a movie that barely breaks even and then finding out it basically gave you a career for three decades. That is the kind of story that makes you want to hug a director and also ask him for financial advice.
Outsider Vibes And DreamWorks Trauma
Chan grew up Thai-Chinese and says he felt like an outsider even in Hong Kong. That perspective shaped his filmmaking career, which makes sense because outsiders tend to notice things that insiders miss. It also meant working across cultures was never his problem when he made “The Love Letter,” his 1999 film for DreamWorks, which he called a difficult experience.
The real headache was a studio where nobody seemed sure who was making the calls, plus a heavy dependence on test screenings. Chan said that process reminds him of the algorithms steering the entertainment business today. So basically, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Studios used to use test audiences to ruin movies. Now they use algorithms. Same energy, different decade.
What Comes Next For Chan
Chan did not spell out which specific AI tools he will use in his own filmmaking, but he does not need to. He will use AI the way the industry uses CGI, as a technique, and he will not let it generate the art itself. His latest film, “The Road Not Taken,” a family drama built around Alzheimer’s, premiered in Toronto, and his comments came as streamers and studios keep weighing how generative tools fit into production, a debate that is not going away anytime soon.
My take? Chan is right to draw a line, but the line is probably blurrier than he thinks. Every director swears off AI art right up until a producer shows them how much it saves on a crowd scene. Still, I respect the stubbornness. The man made “The Warlords.” He can be as stubborn as he wants. And if he is right about mediocre blockbusters dying, then the future of movies might be smaller, weirder and made by people who actually care. That is not the worst outcome.
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