Humans in the Loop
Frankfurtpremiere mit Online-Filmgespräch mit Regisseur Aranya Sahay
Nehma, an Adivasi woman, represents nearly 100,000 Indian women training AI as data labeler - invisible workers whose labor remains entirely unknown to the world.
Nehma an adivasi woman from Jharkhand reclaims her place in her home village after divorce, bringing her two children. As she works at a data labeling center, tensions with her daughter intensify. Yet in this labor, Nehma makes a profound discovery: the human prejudices—persistent, insidious—embedded at the heart of AI systems.
AI has created new work for Indian women—especially indigenous women in rural areas. As data labelers, they mark objects and people in images and videos, their labor invisible yet fundamental to how AI systems learn and evolve. Director Aranya Sahay transforms this reality into a moving feature film: a quiet, emotionally resonant drama dedicated to the women of Jharkhand whose unseen work shapes the future of technology.
• Written and directed by: Aranya Sahay • India 2025 • 71 Min • Hindi with English Subtitles• Cast: Sonal Madhushankar, Ridhima Singh, Geeta Guha, Anurag Lugun, Monika, Aranya Sahay, Executive Producer: Kiran Rao
