Oct 16 & 17
Austin, TX
2nd Annual
AI Film Festival
AAIFF 2026






















Highlights from the 2025 Festival
What to Expect
Two days of the best hybrid and generative films, with the filmmakers walking through how each one got made. Plus keynotes, panels, and a virtual GenJam the weekend before.
Our Community
Directors, writers, producers, editors, animators, VFX artists, brand and advertising creatives, and technologists.
This is where we meet.
Our Mission
We showcase bold creators using AI to build richer experiences for their audience.
The Lineup

CEO of Genre.ai and one of the most-watched filmmakers working in AI, with over 400 million views in the past year. Has led AI campaigns for Nike, LVMH, Qatar Airways, Oracle, Popeyes, Ramp, and Google. Creator of Nexus, a Dreamina Original Series now in development as a feature.

Production and Partnerships Lead at Beeble AI, making sure its AI relighting and VFX tools meet the standards filmmakers expect on set and in post. A DGA Assistant Director with 15+ years in production, and co-founder of Virtual Production Partners.

Award-winning producer and studio executive, formerly Head of Production at Disney+, Paramount Television, and AMC Networks, with credits including The Mandalorian, Loki, and Breaking Bad. Now founder and CEO of StageRunner, a global soundstage marketplace and media platform.

Award-winning filmmaker and producer, and a fixture of Austin's film and music scene. He directed Home Free, which Kevin Smith called the most important comedy of the year, produced The Big Bend, and spent nearly a decade as festival director of UTOPiAfest. Co-founder of Been There, an Austin nonprofit using art to address homelessness.
Founder & Director, Onion Creek Productions

Executive creative director, creative technologist, and Advisory Board Member of Austin AI Film Festival. His 20+ year career spans motion design, VFX, production, immersive media, AR/VR/XR, experiential design, brand systems, and responsible AI-enabled creative workflows.

Creative director and filmmaker with 18+ years across VFX, animation, games, and virtual production, now building cinematic AI workflows at Griptape, part of Foundry. Previously senior art director and generative AI researcher at AWS. His short The 8th Candle screens in this year's Official Selection.
The Lineup

Award-winning director, cinematographer, and producer whose time-lapse imagery spans five decades. Credits include Fantastic Fungi, Disneynature's Wings of Life, National Geographic's Mysteries of the Unseen World, and Disney's Soarin' Around the World, plus TED talks viewed 60M+ times.

EVP and Head of FoxNXT, the innovation group inside Fox Entertainment, where he brings advanced production technology into development and production. Previously led Google's AI go-to-market for media, entertainment, and gaming. Author, board director, and advisor to media and sports companies.

Two-time Oscar-winning production designer for Avatar and Lincoln, and a longtime collaborator of Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis. His worlds include Jurassic Park, Back to the Future Part II and III, Forrest Gump, The Fabelmans, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Production Designer

Award-winning medical journalist, documentary filmmaker, and host of the podcast Brain In Progress. A former CNN and CBS affiliate reporter, her work has earned a National Edward R. Murrow Award, a Lone Star Emmy, and an Amnesty International Human Rights Award.

Generative AI filmmaker with roots in painting, photography, writing, and music, making surreal, horror-tinged films that blend monsters, gaming, and social commentary. Creator of the viral Cryptid Dating Game series and a growing universe of original AI films and IP.
Generative AI Artist & Filmmaker

Announced October 17
11 films took home an award, chosen by our panel of judges.
Short Film
The Morisca
Seif Abdalla
Micro-Short
Kev
Mike Bennion
Music Video
PsychoPsypher
Eddie Jacobson
Hybrid
狭間 Hazama
Victor Moreno
Feature Film
MindPods
Jeff Synthesized
Avant-Garde
SIMUL/ACTION #1
Francesca Fini
Student Film
Listen To The Heart Of The Wood
Yunqi Zha 查昀圻, Cao Xinrui 曹心睿 & Wang Dong 王栋
Brand / Commercial
DIA PRÉSENCE
Claudia Lalau
Documentary
The Sultana Disaster of 1865
Gavin Carlton
Series
The Reformation Room
Luke Mazey
Trailer
Actor Zero
Zurab Dzhidzhilava

Screened October 17
40 films made the final cut, chosen by our selection committee from submissions around the world. The winners are listed above.

Work the committee kept coming back to.
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