Bringing History to Life: AI and Documentary Storytelling

Join us for a special screening of PBS’s newly released documentary, Declarations: Black Americans and the Revolutionary War, a VPM production, followed by a conversation with filmmakers, historians, artists, technology leaders, and policymakers.

The innovative film combines rigorous historical scholarship, original artwork, and artificial intelligence to illuminate overlooked stories from America’s founding.

Because no visual records exist for many of the people featured in the documentary, the filmmakers used AI to thoughtfully animate original artwork grounded in historical research. The result offers a compelling example of how new technology can help filmmakers bring history to life without replacing the artists, historians, and storytellers responsible for shaping it.

Following the screening, moderator Michon Boston, The Boston Group, will lead a panel discussion featuring The Honorable Dr. Sesha Joi Moon, Co-Founder, The JXN Project; Stacey L. Holman, the film’s director; Roy L. Austin, Jr., Inaugural Director, Howard Law Artificial Intelligence Initiative; and Traci Biswese, Vice President & Associate General Counsel, National Security & Emerging Technologies, NCTA.

The conversation will explore how the filmmakers brought together history, art, technology, and documentary storytelling—and how AI helped them visualize people and moments that traditional archives could not fully capture. Panelists will also examine the opportunities and challenges AI presents for documentary filmmakers, including how it can serve as a creative tool while keeping historical evidence, artistic vision, transparency, and human judgment at the center of the work.

Declarations: Black Americans and the Revolutionary War is a production of VPM.

Partners:

NCTA – The Internet & Television Association represents network innovators and content creators that connect, entertain, inform and inspire consumers every day. NCTA’s members have invested more than $325 billion in private capital to build the world’s most powerful technology platform, reaching 85% of American homes and serving 79 million customers. Our member companies also are among the leading producers of video entertainment, creating imaginative, popular, and award-winning television content. The industry supports over one million American jobs and employs at least 500 people in 96% of all congressional districts.

VPM – As Virginia’s home for public media, VPM connects more than 2 million people across Central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley to insightful programming in news, education, arts and culture across its television, radio and digital channels.