AI-Powered Film Event Showcases Genuine Emotions Evoked by Artificial Intelligence
The Reply AI Film Festival, an international short-film competition launched by Reply, an international group specializing in new business models enabled by AI and digital media, made its grand debut in 2024. This year, the festival received over 2,500 submissions from 67 countries, showcasing a diverse range of creative talents.
The festival sought to explore new frontiers in storytelling and creative production, with this year's theme being "Generation of Emotions." Gabriele Muccino, an acclaimed Italian director, chaired the panel of judges for the event.
The Reply AI Film Festival awarded four main prizes: Best Use of AI in Filmmaking, Production Excellence Award, Lexus Visionary Award, and AI for Good Award. The winners were announced on September 4, 2025, in a ceremony at the Hotel Excelsior on the Venice Lido, chaired by Muccino.
"Anomalia" by Delphine Sicard Malafosse from France won the Best AI Film, Best Script, and Best Direction categories. "Golden Juan" by Fermin Branger took home the Best Story and Best Cinematography awards. "Roadkill" was recognised for Best Production and Best AI Animated Short, and also won the Best Use of AI in Filmmaking.
The Audience Choice Awards were particularly noteworthy. "Anomalia" won Best Use of AI, while "Roadkill" also took this title. "Golden Juan" won Most Entertaining/Fun, Best Film, and Most Surprising. Unfortunately, the details of the winner for the Best Documentary Feature were not specified in the search results.
The finalist films in the Reply AI Film Festival spanned genres from sci-fi and romance to animation and documentary. "Carousel" (Argentina) was a visual poem set on a subway where a man and woman imagined a love story through blended memory and fantasy. "Clown" (U.K.) blurred reality and performance as a clown changed her identity to meet audience expectations.
"The Cinema That Never Was" (Germany) used AI to imagine films that were abandoned or never made and how they could have changed the course of cinematic history. "Corrupt Data Clan" (France) reimagined a forgotten hip-hop collective from 1990s Brooklyn using AI to stylize a retrospective documentary.
"Love at First Sight" (Italy) depicted a shy romance between a shepherd and a girl who silently observed him, rendered entirely with AI tools. "A Million Trillion Pathway" (U.S./Japan) was a multi-timeline quest involving a broken swordsman, a grieving immortal, and a cosmic entity.
The Reply AI Film Festival also introduced the AI for Good Award, developed in collaboration with the International Telecommunication Union. This award honours stories aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Mastercard, a longtime sponsor of the Venice film festival, also supported the Reply AI Film Festival, underscoring the growing importance of AI in the film industry. The festival continues to push the boundaries of storytelling and creative production, setting a new standard for AI-driven filmmaking.
[1] The Hollywood Reporter
[2] Variety
[3] Deadline
[4] IndieWire
- The Reply AI Film Festival, held in 2024, attracted submissions from 67 countries and showcased diverse creative talents, fostering innovation in storytelling and creative production, aided by AI and digital media technology.
- In the district of entertainment and movies-and-TV, the use of AI in filmmaking is gaining significant recognition, as exhibited by the Reply AI Film Festival, where four main prizes were awarded, promoting AI's role in this sector.
- Contestants in the Reply AI Film Festival showcased a variety of styles, including animation, documentary, romance, and sci-fi, employing AI to generate unique narratives and visuals, representing the identity of the data they process to create entertainment.
- The Reply AI Film Festival, in collaboration with the International Telecommunication Union, established the AI for Good Award, recognizing stories aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, demonstrating the festival's commitment to regulation and ethical AI.
