How good are AI films now?
Austin AI Film Festival: A recap
In loving memory of David Lynch
I first stumbled upon the festival back in December, right around the time I started shaping my thesis on AI x Media Entertainment at Amazon. Fast forward three months — as I dashed into the conference center before Austin turns me into a walking brisket (it was 90°), I still had very little idea what to expect.
Now that the festival has wrapped, I’m happy to say that I had a great time there. Granted, this wasn’t a Vegas-B2B-SaaS-conference-scale event, but at least everybody here actually likes what they are doing.
Yes, that was uncalled for, so before my sass goes out of control, let me start by sharing the three main takeaways of the event.
People are getting tired of just using AI for overdone themes/aesthetics like Studio Ghibli, cyberpunk, or zombies. Who’s the next Tarantino or PTA of AI? Who will push the boundaries and use AI to create something so refreshing that it’s impossible to deny its creative virtue?
Again, you can never replace taste or vision, AI is only going to amplify it. If you want to use AI to churn out brain rot, nobody’s stopping you (but shame on you). Use it for something good, to tell a story that you care about, to start a revolution from your bed.
My field survey shows that people’s favorite AI video models are Luma and Kling and the one capability people desperately want is better prompt adherence on movement and camera control.
One more thing before we dim the light — overall, the festival has received 2000+ films from 25 countries across the world, and only 5 films were selected as the winner. A huge round of applause for the winners and to everybody that participated.
Obviously, all of them have many flaws, but they also offer a glimpse of what’s possible with AI. With that in mind, I hope you enjoy!
And the Winner is…
Best Experimental Award — Remembering by Diego Maclean
Best Music Video Award — CAOS by Giovanni Abitante
Best Documentary Award — Knights without Armor by AI or Die
Best Narrative Award — Alex by Dale Williams
Best Trailer Award — Moonblood by Rosa Lykiardopoulos
And my own personal honorable mention!
Il Pagliaccio by Marco Cavazzana
Parallax by Ariel Kotzer
This film has outstanding cinematography, just look at those two shots!
Dominant by Nik Kleverov
Newton’s Cradle by Jeff Synthesized
Probably the best sound design in the festival.
The Philadelphia Project by Jesse Torres for its social commentary
You can learn more about the context from this documentary on Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan.
Fin
That’s a wrap! I hope you enjoyed at least some of the films here, and I hope you were able to look past the flaws and spot something you resonate with.
Lastly, I want to thank the organizer for making this festival possible, the attendees for all the fun conversation and the participants for their courage to put their work out in public.
And, hopefully, I’ll be on the roster next year!