A Future without Subtitles? Swedish UFO Film Seamlessly Dubbed in English Thanks to Flawless AI
This could be a revolution in film dubbing.
For the first time, a foreign film has been dubbed seamlessly into English thanks to AI – the characters speak perfect English without looking like they are really speaking another language. Even better news? The process is SAG-AFTRA compliant.
Using a tool called DeepEditor, Flawless AI has taken the 2022 Swedish sci-fi adventure UFO Sweden has been digitally altered so character mouth movements and speech will be perfectly synced for English speaking viewers.
Because the technology uses the voices of original cast to make these alterations, the process has been deemed as compliant with SAG-AFTRA rules regarding using the actors likenesses. See how the process works in this video from Flawless.
The resulting film has been retitled Watch the Skies, and you may soon be able to see it for yourself. Flawless has partnered with distributor XYZ films and AMC Theaters has committed 100 screens to Watch the Skies, and will roll out the film beginning May 9th. For now, the plan is to release the film only in the top 20 markets across America.
Described as The X-Files meet Stranger Things, UFO Sweden is set in 1996 in the Swedish city of Norrköping where an association of antisocial nerds collect and verify all the testimonies of UFO’s flying over Sweden, finding rational explanations for most sightings. But teenager Denise asks the group to help her rescue her father, who she swears was abducted by aliens. Together they embark on a high-stakes adventure that defies the law and challenges the very fabric of reality.
Victor Danell wrote and directed and the cast includes Inez Dahl Torhaug, Jesper Barkselius, Sara Shirpey, Eva Melander and Håkan Ehn. The film was an entrant in the Berlin International Film Festival and won an Honorable Mention at Fantastic Fest in 2023.
Flawless has also picked up German-language film The Light from director Tom Tykwer and in conjunction with XYZ Pictures will dub and release that film to US theaters too. The Light also was seen at the Berlin Film Festival.
