Lost Letters (Verloren Brieven)
The project Lost Letters focuses on developing a film in which the missing nineteen century letters of the great-grandmother of BarBara, Keetje to her friends are brought back to life with the help of artificial intelligence. Different AI models will be explored to generate and visualize these lost letters. The central question is: How can AI contribute to the reconstruction of historical correspondence, and what are the ethical, artistic, and narrative implications of this process? The preparatory phase is dedicated to gathering material, experimenting with AI technologies, and developing a cinematic vision that connects past and future.
BarBara Hanlo (1957, Netherlands) is a visual artist, photographer, and filmmaker. She creates both feature-length essay films and short experimental films, all of which have premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) since 1993. Through her independent company PEP – Purple Earth Productions, she writes and produces her own films and multidisciplinary projects.
In her essayistic films and projects, she explores themes close to home, often rooted in her own family history. Like her films, her photographic works are experimental and poetic, marked by a distinctive visual style. Her practice engages with universal questions of life, memory, and the inevitable passage of time.
Alongside her artistic work, Hanlo has taught as (guest) lecturer at several leading Dutch art academies, including the Royal Academy of Art The Hague, HKU Utrecht, Gerrit Rietveld Academie Amsterdam, and the Academy for Theatre and Dance Amsterdam.