Len Blavatnik-Backed AI Films Partners With Pulse To Launch Production Fund

Access Industries’ AI Films has partnered with Pulse Films to launch a new production fund to back distinctive and bold cinematic voices.

Pulse CEO and BAFTA-nominated producer Thomas Benski, award-winning producer Lars Knudsen (This Is Us) and AI FIlm’s Ben Giladi (Mr. Holmes) will create a one-stop shop to develop, produce and fully finance two to three films a year with budgets of up to $6 million.

Through the newly formed PulsexAI, the trio will work together to identify and cultivate the next generation of filmmakers who are looking for the support and freedom to push the creative envelope.

“The fund will be run by producers who can genuinely add value to a filmmaker’s vision and the production process as a whole, because we are not confined to the same rules as before,” Benski said in announcing the fund. “We will have an appetite for risk and will support our auteurs and their original voices through our ability to fully finance and bring our in-house resources and experience shielding the project from the pressures of the current complicated marketplace.”

As an example of the types of projects they’ll look to incubate, a spokesperson pointed to AI’s I, Tonya and its Sundance entry, the heist thriller American Animals, and Pulse’s Skate Kitchen, directed by Crystal Moselle, which is premiering in the Next section at this year’s festival.

“The industry is undergoing a serious cultural, generational and economical change at the moment,” said Giladi. “We perceive this change as a blessed opportunity to bring back true power and focus to exceptional and bold directorial talents.”

Financing for the fund will be underwritten by Access Industries, a privately held company founded by billionaire Len Blavatnik. The company’s portfolio includes Warner Music Group, RatPac Entertainment and European music service Deezer.