PRESENTATION: AGENTE FILMICO — An LLM-Powered Interface for Curating Independent Archives

How might generative AI transform access to independent archives and small audiovisual collections? In this session, Pablo Núñez introduces Agente Fílmico, an open-source prototype of a conversational interface that curates and retrieves short films from the MAFI collection—a Chilean documentary archive spanning over a decade of private and public events that constitute a human landscape of Chilean society seen through the eyes of a collective of filmmakers, with the 2019 Estallido Social as a pivotal moment in Chile's recent history.

As the MAFI collective concludes its operations, this project explores whether LLM-based tools can offer new pathways into audiovisual archives while also serving as the foundation for a media artwork reflecting on collective memory in the age of AI.

The presentation unfolds in two parts. First, Núñez will introduce the MAFI collective, its motivations and trajectory. Second, a live demonstration of Agente 1.5 opens space for discussion and feedback, exploring how LLM-powered interfaces might serve archival and cultural institutions (technical feedback will be secondary). The research centres on innovating presentation and curation methods—how we encounter collections—rather than on archival science methodology, making it particularly relevant for smaller, independent archives.

Project website: https://agente.mafi.tv/

Suggested Readings

Trautenberg, E. (2022). A Cinematographic Atlas: Portraits of a Diverse Chile in Mapa Fílmico de un País. Hispanic Studies Review, 6(1). https://hispanicstudiesreview.cofc.edu/article/32677

This text introduces the MAFI collective, its collection and core concepts, contextualised within other historiographic projects in Chile's history.

Ortúzar Madrid, P. (2026). Carnival and Revolt: The Political Ambivalence of the 2019 Chilean Estallido. Bulletin of Latin American Research, 45(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/blar.70056

A brief, well-informed introduction to Chile’s political context and historical period captured by the MAFI collective, offered from a critical perspective aligned with Chile’s right.

Speaker Bio

Pablo Núñez is a Chilean-Dutch researcher working at the intersection of digital heritage and emerging technologies. He is a PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam's School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture (AHM) and research fellow at the AI Greenhouse project at the Amsterdam University of the Arts (AHK). An alumnus of the UvA Artistic Research and Netherlands Film Academy master's programmes, his current work investigates how generative AI can mediate access to audiovisual archives.