MML Collaborates with the New Brunswick Multicultural Council on “Still Running,” an AI-Generated Short Film About Newcomer Women’s Employment Journeys

Multimodal Media Lab (MML) is proud to have collaborated with the New Brunswick Multicultural Council (NBMC) on Still Running, an AI-generated short film created through NBMC’s IMvisible EMpowerment Project. NBMC unveiled the film in August 2026 in English and French; its French title is Toujours dans la course.

Content note: Some scenes may be emotionally triggering for viewers.

Layla keeps running, but toward what? What invisible barriers keep getting in her way? Still Running is a story of perseverance, systemic barriers, and new beginnings. Layla’s journey is fictional, but it reflects the employment journeys of many newcomer women.

Making the Invisible Visible

The film is part of IMvisible EMpowerment (Je Suis Visible – Je Suis Capable), a project of NBMC’s Women and Gender Initiatives running from June 2024 to March 2027. The project works to economically empower newcomer women in New Brunswick in their workplaces, including women affected by gender-based violence.

Newcomer women can meet barriers at every stage of employment, from hiring and recruitment to onboarding and retention, often because HR policies lack cultural competence or awareness of what newcomer women face. Alongside training for employers in intercultural HR practices and information sessions for newcomer women, the project creates storytelling resources that help employers understand those barriers. Still Running is one of them.

AI as a Storytelling Tool, Guided by People

NBMC and MML used AI as a storytelling tool to bring Layla’s story to the screen, guided by human creativity and oversight. For MML, this is what responsible AI filmmaking looks like: the technology widens what a production can show, while people decide what the story says and how it is told.

“This fictional film was created using AI as a storytelling tool, guided by human creativity, oversight, and an ethical commitment to representing newcomer women with dignity and care. It does not depict the story of any specific individual.” — Ethical AI note from NBMC

Watch, Reflect, and Share

Still Running is available on NBMC’s YouTube channel and on Facebook in English and French. To learn more about the IMvisible EMpowerment Project, visit nbmc-cmnb.ca.

About the New Brunswick Multicultural Council

The New Brunswick Multicultural Council (NBMC), known in French as the Conseil multiculturel du Nouveau-Brunswick (CMNB), was formed in 1983 and is based in Fredericton. NBMC empowers multicultural communities through programs, advocacy, and collaboration, supporting immigrant-serving agencies and multicultural and ethno-cultural associations across New Brunswick. Learn more at nbmc-cmnb.ca.