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TRIBECA X AWARDS
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The New Creative Infrastructure

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MONDAY, JUNE 8
2:00pm-3:00pm
Tribeca X Conversation Lounge
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AWS brings two sessions to Tribeca X exploring what creative production looks like when cloud and AI are foundational — not retrofits. In the first, director c. Craig Patterson, Asteria Co-Founder Benjamin Michel, and AWS discuss the making of ChikaBOOM!, an animated short premiering at Tribeca built using Asteria’s Continuum Suite on AWS. The second features Untold Studios sharing how they built one of the world’s first fully cloud-native creative studios and are integrating AI across ideation, animation, and production. Together, the sessions offer two perspectives on the same industry shift: what becomes possible when technology expands — rather than replaces — human creativity.
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From Script to Screen: The Human-Anchored Future of AI Filmmaking

When director c. Craig Patterson set out to make ChikaBOOM! — an animated short premiering at this year’s Tribeca Festival — he did it with a cast including Yara Shahidi, Natasha Lyonne, Daveed Diggs, Tika Sumpter, and Roy Wood Jr., and a production pipeline built on Asteria’s Continuum Suite and Amazon Web Services. Blending 2D, CG, and AI-driven animation, the film explores what becomes possible when technology supports, rather than replaces, creative vision. Join AWS, Asteria Co-Founder Benjamin Michel, and Patterson for a conversation about cloud-native filmmaking, AI as a creative collaborator, and the human judgment and craft still at the center of the process.

C. Craig Patterson

Director

Benjamin Michel

Co-Founder, Asteria
Benjamin Michel is an Emmy-nominated creative technologist and producer with a track record of building pioneering ventures at the intersection of storytelling and technology. Co-Founder of Late Night Labs (acquired by XTR, 2024) and now Co-Founder and Head of Studio at Asteria, he leads hybrid filmmaking initiatives that merge traditional craft with AI-driven workflows. Previously he held a senior leadership role at RYOT, leading immersive media strategy and positioning it for acquisition by Verizon in 2016. He is widely experienced in guiding creative and technical teams, developing enterprise-level strategies, and delivering award-winning immersive and film projects with partners including Disney, ILM, Fox, Netflix, Hulu, Meta, Google, The New York Times, Time, and Snap.

Croi McNamara

Moderator (AWS Studios)
As the Global Lead for Studios, Creators & Music at AWS, Croi and her team work alongside the world's leading creative companies to amplify human creativity through technology. They help studios, creators, and music companies reimagine how content is made, distributed, and monetized. Croi is an award-winning creative who has spent 20+ years at the intersection of storytelling and innovation. She has produced feature documentaries and television series, launched global products, built revenue-driving partnerships, and turned emerging technology into real creative and commercial growth at Amazon/AWS, Condé Nast, Warner Bros. Discovery, Thomson Reuters, and National Geographic.

Annie Ayres

Head of Music & Brand Partnerships, Untold Studios

Josh Bagnall

Lead Technologist, Untold Studios

Thomas Winkler

Head of Publisher, Songwriter, and Society Relations, Amazon Music

Croi McNamara

Moderator (AWS Studios)
As the Global Lead for Studios, Creators & Music at AWS, Croi and her team work alongside the world's leading creative companies to amplify human creativity through technology. They help studios, creators, and music companies reimagine how content is made, distributed, and monetized. Croi is an award-winning creative who has spent 20+ years at the intersection of storytelling and innovation. She has produced feature documentaries and television series, launched global products, built revenue-driving partnerships, and turned emerging technology into real creative and commercial growth at Amazon/AWS, Condé Nast, Warner Bros. Discovery, Thomson Reuters, and National Geographic.

Born in the Cloud: How Untold Studios Rebuilt the Creative Studio for the AI Era

A creative-first conversation on how Untold Studios is evolving the modern studio model around craft, culture, and world-class talent. Going behind the scenes of Untold’s partnership with Amazon Songline, using the A$AP Rocky Songline project as a live example of what happens when a creative idea is supported by the right infrastructure, tools, and production model. The panel explores how ambitious creative work is shaped through collaboration between artists, directors, producers, technologists, and partners. As the first cloud-based creative studio, Untold has removed traditional barriers to accessing the best global talent, enabling seamless collaboration and more efficient delivery for clients - all in service of the idea. This is not a technical deep dive, but a look at how the right infrastructure and production model can quietly support creativity, elevate craft, and help bold work travel further.