PETR SALABA
PHOTOGRAPHER & DOCUMENTARY FILM DIRECTORAbout and Contact
+420 774 953 539 (GSM, Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp)
TLDR:
I make documentary movies. Interested in extra human cognition.
Based in Prague, working remotely.
I like humans, tea and horses.
Bio:
Petr Salaba is a documentary filmmaker and science communicator focused on AI’s potential harm and alignment with human values. Recently he’s produced and directed cinematic essays for the Dwarkesh Patel Podcast, Foresight Institute and is currently collaborating with Alignment of Complex Systems Research.
Petr’s works include Scalespace – an AI-generated film about the evolution of communication (premiered at IDFF Ji.hlava ’23), and Anamnesis – an interactive chatbot simulation testing human empathy toward digital suffering (CPH:DOX ’24).
Petr graduated from the Department of Documentary Film at Prague’s FAMU. His interdisciplinary interests extend to embodied cognition and his passion for natural (rhythm and body language based) communication with horses.
That’s Berry on the photo below, Petr’s Welsh Cob mare.
WHAT WILL FULLY AUTOMATED FIRMS LOOKS LIKE?
10 min Dwarkesh Patel video essay
„The collective edge AIs will have has nothing with raw IQ, but rather with the fact they are digital.“
Cinematic adaptation of essay on the future of AI lead firms written by Dwarkesh Patel.
The entire piece was made from clips generated by Veo2 based on text-to-video prompts.
Music: Anna Pinskaya
Directed by: Petr Salaba
SCALESPACE
31 min experimental film
Music: Anna Pinskaya
Editing: Vojtech Mrkus
Original idea: Jan Kulveit
Directed by: Petr Salaba
Since the beginning of time 4 354 000 000 000 000 000 seconds have passed. The entire scope of biological, cultural, and digital evolution is presented through a logarithmic time perspective, revealing parallels between processes on different time scales. The film begins at the Big Bang, where one second of screen time corresponds to 10¹⁷ seconds of natural history. Moving through orders of magnitude, the film concludes in the present moment, nearing a 1:1 perspective.
The film was created using over 5 500 text-to-image and image-to-video prompts in October 2023.
THIS NO MAN’S LAND OF MINE (2016)
35 min documentary film –TRAILER
Documentary student film about a group of radical anarcho-capitalists that decide to declare their own micro-nation in the Balkans as a part of a wacky tax evasion plan.
The film follows the self-proclaimed president of Liberland as he tries to convince the European politicians to join his cause and outsmart the Croatian border guards. Meetings on boards of private planes and police arrests on the ground ensue in this documentary comedy film.
liberlandthefilm.com
Directed by Petr Salaba and Filip Rojik
llllllIIIIl (2017)
22 min documentary film
Dramatic and satiric meditation about the history of humankind wants and technology. Shot mostly in 240fps during the G20 riots in Hamburg in 2017.
winner:
Best Czech and Slovak popular science documentary film, AFO International Festival of Science Documentary Films
official Selection:
Czech Joy, Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival
LIFE IN CANADA (2012)
PHOTO SERIES
A mix of photographs from various events across Canada, from Vancouver nightclubs to the student protests in Montreal.
TIME SEALED (2011)
Intimate portrayal of obsolete photography process.
5 min short film
Before the invention of celluloid film, early photographs were captured on glass plates covered in light-sensitive liquid.
An average exposure time of one photo could be in tens of seconds which requires a very still posture of the model.
Cinematography: Nelson Talbot
Directed by Petr Salaba
ORGANIC FARMS (2015)
Series of 6 short documentaries commissioned by the Czech Ministry of Agriculture to promote alternative ways of animal and vegetable farming.
Organic farming often brings smaller yields than conventional methods but it might be a promising mid-step towards more thoughtful and humane form of agriculture in the near future.
Cinematography and production: Petr Salaba
NHL FINALE (2011)
PHOTO SERIES
In June 2011 the ice-hockey club Vancouver Canucks lost THE GAME 7. The final match in the Stanley Cup tournament.
TALKING HEADS (2013)
THE PHILOSOPHICAL FACULTY OF CHARLES UNIVERSITY
A popular series of videos about literature, philosophy and religion.
Some of the experts in the series are Martin Hilský, Tomáš Halík or Anna Housková.
Concept: Eva Krásová
Editing: Kateřina Krejčová
Photography and video: Petr Salaba