Victor Perez, Visual Effects Supervisor
The Beauty of Imperfection: Human Craft in the Age of AI

As AI makes visual beauty instantly accessible, cinema enters a new creative era where production value and artistic value begin to separate. When images can be generated by anyone, the central question is no longer what can be shown, but why it should be shown, and, just as importantly, what should remain unseen. This talk explores how AI is shifting visual storytelling beyond spectacle and technical achievement toward meaning, authorship, restraint, and human imperfection. With a focus on cinematography and visual effects, it argues that the future of the image will not be defined by flawless beauty, but by craft: the deliberate act of shaping, selecting, withholding, and piecing beauty together into emotional and narrative meaning. Maybe we needed AI to remind us what makes us human.

Victor Perez is a renowned figure in the global visual effects industry. His career spans over 28 years so far, and he has worked in many areas of visual storytelling. Starting as a photographer and cinematographer, extending his interest to the whole image post-production process and evolving into a visual effects artist with a special focus on photorealistic compositing of CGI. Along the way, he has worked on a number of Hollywood films, including Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’, and ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides’, plus many more. Eventually, he became a Film Director, and his career naturally led him to his current role as a Visual Effects Supervisor. What really drives Perez is his focus on storytelling. He is fascinated by how new technologies can help filmmakers tell stories in ways never seen before. His work is a fine alchemy of Science, Technology, and Art, reflecting his passion for innovation and creativity.