AI Film Festival Japan 2025 \u2014 Nominations<\/title><style>\n:root{--bg:#0b0c10;--panel:#121318;--text:#e6e6e6;--muted:#a5a5a5;--accent:#00d0ff;}\n*{box-sizing:border-box}\nbody{font-family:system-ui,-apple-system,Segoe UI,Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;background:var(--bg);color:var(--text);margin:0;line-height:1.6}\n.container{max-width:1100px;margin:0 auto;padding:2rem 1rem}\nheader{position:sticky;top:0;background:linear-gradient(180deg,rgba(11,12,16,.98),rgba(11,12,16,.92));backdrop-filter:saturate(140%) blur(6px);z-index:10;border-bottom:1px solid #222}\nheader .inner{max-width:1100px;margin:0 auto;padding:1rem}\nh1{font-size:clamp(1.6rem,2.5vw,2.4rem);letter-spacing:.02em;margin:.2rem 0}\n.lead{color:var(--muted);margin:.25rem 0 0}\nnav{display:flex;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:.5rem;margin-top:.5rem}\nnav a{padding:.35rem .6rem;border:1px solid #222;border-radius:999px;text-decoration:none;color:var(--text)}\nnav a:hover{border-color:var(--accent);color:var(--accent)}\nsection{margin:2rem 0}\n.category-title{font-size:clamp(1.2rem,2vw,1.6rem);margin:0 0 1rem;padding-bottom:.4rem;border-bottom:1px solid #1e1f25;color:var(--accent)}\n.grid{display:grid;grid-template-columns:repeat(auto-fit,minmax(280px,1fr));gap:1rem}\n.card{background:var(--panel);border:1px solid #1a1b22;border-radius:14px;padding:1rem}\n.card h3{margin:.2rem 0 .6rem;font-size:1.1rem}\n.meta{font-size:.9rem;color:var(--muted);margin:.2rem 0 .5rem}\n.meta span{display:inline-block;margin-right:.75rem}\n.synopsis{font-size:.95rem;color:#eaeaea}\nfooter{color:var(--muted);font-size:.85rem;margin:3rem 0 1rem;text-align:center}\n<\/style><body>\n <header><div class=\"inner\"><h1>AI Film Festival Japan 2025 \u2014 Nominations<\/h1><p class=\"lead\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 24px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fFinalists announced across categories<\/p>\n <nav><a href=\"#ai-animation-films\">AI Animation Films<\/a><a href=\"#ai-documentary-films\">AI Documentary Films<\/a><a href=\"#ai-experimental-films\">AI Experimental Films<\/a><a href=\"#ai-narrative-films\">AI Narrative Films<\/a><\/nav><\/div><\/header>\n <main class=\"container\">\n <section id=\"ai-animation-films\"><h2 class=\"category-title\">AI Animation Films<\/h2><div class=\"grid\"><article class=\"card\"><h3>Musical moment<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Kseniia Vetrova<\/span><span>Country: Russia<\/span><span>Category: AI Animation Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">When we listen to music, each of us delves into our own thoughts that can sometimes cause us pain or make us feel lonely. But we should not forget that when you listen to music, you are never alone because the true beauty of music is that it brings people together<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>Pray To Have A Child<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): XiaoLu Yang, XingJian Wang<\/span><span>Country: China<\/span><span>Category: AI Animation Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">In the gentle night, a fisherman decided to go to the temple to ask for a son.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>To the Bones<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Claudio Sa<\/span><span>Country: Portugal<\/span><span>Category: AI Animation Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">A haunting animated fable about greed, temptation, and consequence \u2014 told through the eerie journey of a lone wanderer who stumbles upon a mysterious gnome and a glowing red gem.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div><h3>\u300aWALLED DREAMS\u300b<\/h3> <div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Bee Han, Yixuan Niu<\/span><span>Country: China<\/span><span>Category: AI Animation Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">In a city enclosed by towering walls and indifferent streets, a lonely little girl encounters a plush pig. Like her, the pig quietly hides in the corners of the world. It becomes her only companion, guiding her through silent houses and leading her into a realm that is both absurd and dreamlike.\nReality keeps building its walls higher, yet the dreams the pig brings her offer fleeting moments of tenderness and freedom. One day, the pig will be gone, but the dream it leaves behind will continue to shimmer within her heart\u2014becoming the courage and solace she needs to step into the real world.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div ><h3>Pexote Jack: Ohio!<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Hoyt Dwyer<\/span><span>Country: United States<\/span><span>Category: AI Animation Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">A washed-up 1930s cartoon jackalope learns he\u2019s been digitized & optimized into a viral, hyper-performant AI double.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>Repair<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Hal Watmough<\/span><span>Country: United Kingdom<\/span><span>Category: AI Animation Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">As night descends and a city comes to life, in a quiet corner of town, George sits alone and tries to fix something that is broken: his shirt button. It's a simple task, but one that feels impossible. \n\nGeorge has lost the one thing that gave his life meaning, his wife. The button, like everything else, won't stay in place. He's stuck, trapped in the quiet space between grief and routine, surrounded by the objects and memories that once gave his life shape.\n\nBut something shifts. With the memory of his love's last words he realises that holding on too tightly can be its own kind of loss. He can never fix everything, but he can repair it just enough to outside into the bustling city again.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>FRIENDS<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Jihyun Kim<\/span><span>Country: South Korea<\/span><span>Category: AI Animation Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">In a cozy home, Jiwoo and his dog, Maximus, welcome a new friend: a robotic dog caregiver. Jiwoo, fond of his favorite cartoon robot hero, names the new arrival Hyperion X, forming an instant bond with the robot. At first, Maximus is wary and frightened of the robot, but over time, during the family's absences, Maximus begins to warm up to Hyperion X\u2019s gentle care, eventually forming an unbreakable bond of friendship. However, when the robot gets a new software update with exciting new features, the family\u2019s attention shifts entirely to Hyperion X. Filled with jealousy, Maximus\u2019s little prank soon leads to an unexpected turn of events that changes everything.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>El d\u00eda que me quieras. El viaje de Gardel<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Matias Mera<\/span><span>Country: Argentina<\/span><span>Category: AI Animation Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">La aventura que cambi\u00f3 la historia de la m\u00fasica y dio origen al primer mito del siglo XX: De la pobreza al esmoquin, del arrabal a Manhattan. Carlos Gardel cre\u00f3 el tango canci\u00f3n, film\u00f3 los\nprimeros videoclips y m\u00e1s de una decena de pel\u00edculas. Conquist\u00f3 con su voz la \u00d3pera de Par\u00eds y los estudios de Nueva York. El d\u00eda que me quieres: El viaje de Gardel, es un recorrido \u00e9pico de la vida y obra de Carlos Gardel.<\/p><\/article>\n<\/div><\/section><section id=\"ai-documentary-films\"><h2 class=\"category-title\">AI Documentary Films<\/h2><div class=\"grid\"><article class=\"card\"><h3>Momentum<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Julien Marsouin<\/span><span>Country: Germany, Canada<\/span><span>Category: AI Documentary Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">Four tribes, living worlds apart, bound by the same instinct and way of life: to run.\nFrom the mountains of Mexico to the plains of Southern Africa, this film takes us on a journey through time and across continents to explore how running has shaped\u2014and continues to shape\u2014their lives.\n\nBut beyond their stories, it\u2019s an invitation to reflect on our own need for movement, and the primal drive that keeps us moving forward.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>The Cinema That Never Was<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Mark Wachholz<\/span><span>Country: Germany<\/span><span>Category: AI Documentary Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">Have you ever wondered about all the films we lost\u2014not to time, but to never having existed? Not abandoned projects, but films that were never written, never imagined, never even conceived. What if the cinema we know and love is just a fraction of what could have been? Let\u2019s remember these films that were never made.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>We the Change<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Eric Oldrin, Jeremy Clark, Michael Goedecke, Antonio Marcato<\/span><span>Country: United States<\/span><span>Category: AI Documentary Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">We the Change is an anthem of courage and hope in the face of impossible odds. It's driven by the voices of four global human rights activists who have stood up against oppression and become an inspiration to people, everywhere.\n\nThey speak for political struggle in every corner of the globe, from Africa to Asia, Latin America to the United States and share ideas that we all need to hear, today more than ever before.\n\nInspired by street art from each region, the film brings their stories to life through visual poetry, that moves across the walls that divide them in the cities where they gather as one. It's a call for solidarity and unity and optimism in a time of great division and uncertainty.\n\nWe believe there is a future where we the people can be the change we want to see. This film invites us all to rise to that moment.\n\nWritten and Directed by Humans. Rendered by Robots from Midjourney, Runway, Kling and Eleven Labs.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>EXILE<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Stephane Benini<\/span><span>Country: Portugal<\/span><span>Category: AI Documentary Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">I grew up in France, near Metz \u2014 in a quiet town bordered by the Moselle river.\nWhen I was a kid, my father used to tell me about a man named Jack Kirby. Not from comic books, not yet \u2014 but from war. From Lorraine. From Dornot.\nHe told me how, in September 1944, Kirby crossed the Moselle under heavy fire as part of General Patton\u2019s Third Army. How he fought for 60 straight hours in a horseshoe-shaped forest, resisting 27 German assaults. How he nearly lost his feet to the cold.\nHe told me how, years later, this same man would draw gods and monsters, would co-create Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men\u2026 and the Silver Surfer.\nThis short film is my way of connecting all those pieces \u2014 the soldier, the mythmaker, and the boy sitting by the river, hearing a story that would never leave him.\nI\u2019ve spent the last few weeks pouring everything I had into this project. It was created entirely with AI tools, but the soul behind it is deeply human \u2014 a memory, a question, and a thank you.\nTo me, the Silver Surfer isn\u2019t just cosmic.\nHe\u2019s haunted. Displaced. A man torn from home and made into something else.\nJust like Kirby was, on the banks of the Moselle.\nThis is a fan film, made with respect, passion, and love \u2014 not for profit, but for memory.\nFor a moment in France that shaped an artist.\nFor a vision of Marvel that\u2019s rooted not just in fantasy, but in sacrifice.\n<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>Who's The Robot Now?<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Erik Gen<\/span><span>Country: United States<\/span><span>Category: AI Documentary Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">This satirical, documentary-style short film humorously explores the quirky, awkward, and often absurd coexistence between androids and humans. Through candid, tongue-in-cheek interviews, humans reveal their bafflement over android logic and etiquette, while androids dryly comment on human inefficiencies, irrational behaviors, and inexplicable emotional dramas. Framed as a mockumentary, the film playfully critiques humanity's self-importance and technological dependency, while highlighting the comedic misunderstandings that arise from bridging the digital-biological divide. Ultimately, it pokes fun at the irony that, in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, humans might not be the smartest beings in the room after all.<\/p><\/article><\/div><\/section><section id=\"ai-experimental-films\"><h2 class=\"category-title\">AI Experimental Films<\/h2><div class=\"grid\"><article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>The Hidden Tremor<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): L\u00e9o Cannone<\/span><span>Country: France<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films, AI Experimental Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">The Hidden Tremor is a meditative, sensorial journey through Southeast Asia.\nThe film lingers at the edge of the visible, following a subtle pulse that runs quietly just beneath the surface of our world.\nEach shot was captured during a two-month journey across Asia, and some of them were gently shaped with AI, to reveal what might have always been there...<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>Last Call Before A.G.I<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Matt Zien<\/span><span>Country: United States<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films, AI Experimental Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">On the night humanity votes to activate Artificial General Intelligence, two parallel stories unfold across a fractured city.\n\nIn a dive bar housed in an abandoned office building, a singer performs for empty tables and broken dreams, asking if the algorithm sees her humanity or just her inefficiency. Her raw confession echoes through the empty space: "What if broken's all I've ever been?"\n\nAcross town, tech titans arrive at a golden opera house to celebrate their creation, while protesters gather outside. Inside, an opera singer performs for the architects of the new world, questioning whether the intelligence they're birthing will judge them more harshly than those they silenced. As the countdown to activation begins, champagne glasses rise in celebration of humanity's last act as the planet's dominant intelligence.\n\nLAST CALL BEFORE A.G.I. captures the final moments before humanity irrevocably changes\u2014not with apocalypse, but with resignation and revelry. A haunting meditation on progress, purpose, and the price of obsolescence, the film asks: When we built something smarter than ourselves, did we build our salvation or sign our own death warrant?\n\nTwo songs. Two worlds. One irreversible moment.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>SUNFLOWERS WITHOUT DECAY (27 Van Goghs vs. ChatGPT & VEO3)<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Boris Eldagsen<\/span><span>Country: Germany<\/span><span>Category: AI Experimental Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">Boris Eldagsen turns the machine against itself. He raises van Gogh from the dead, hands him a mic, and lets him rage. What we get is a ghost trapped in the age of AI\u2014a hostage video from the underworld of art history.\n\nWe turned the man into merchandise, then asked AI to remix the ruins. And here it is\u2014remixed, exhausted, and pissed. Vincent\u2019s voice isn\u2019t real, but the exhaustion is.\nWe\u2019ve flattened his suffering into a preset, a style pack, a downloadable vibe. The agony, the hunger, the paint-eating madness\u2014it\u2019s all been filtered, cleaned up, and sold back to us as a beautiful effect. This is van Gogh after being chewed up by history, museums, and merch tables. He\u2019s not angry that we use his style\u2014he\u2019s angry that we think that\u2019s enough.\n\nEldagsen gives us the best kind of fake: one that tells the truth. This isn\u2019t just about art\u2014it\u2019s about what we\u2019ve done to it.\nIt\u2019s tragic, funny, and completely devastating.\n\nThe monologue was written with the help of ChatGPT, the video was generated with VEO3. Text-to-Video only, as Google doesn\u2019t allow dialogue with Image-to-Video (yet). Extra sounds were provided by freesound.com and the video was edited (and AI-extended) in Adobe PremierePro.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>AIVY\u00b0<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Naoki Naha<\/span><span>Country: Japan<\/span><span>Category: AI Experimental Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">AIVY\u00b0 is a three-member idol group created by AI. Immediately after their debut, they created a global sensation. Their songs reached number one on the charts in every country, and with this momentum, they have decided to embark on the largest world tour in history. Paris, New York, London, Seoul... On their tour, they packed stadiums with tens of thousands of people, and in front of a sea of \u200b\u200blights of enthusiastic fans, they performed a spectacular show with perfect precision. It was truly a new social phenomenon born from technology.<\/p><\/article>\n<\/div><\/section><section id=\"ai-narrative-films\"><h2 class=\"category-title\">AI Narrative Films<\/h2><div class=\"grid\"><article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>Between Spaces<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Bryan Ebzery<\/span><span>Country: United States<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">Between Spaces, a film created entirely with AI, drifts between the waking world and the shimmer of dreams\u2014a place where plastic soldiers march beside giants and memory dissolves into myth. It is a meditation on childhood awe, loss, and the fragile veil between what is and what might be. The story unfolds like a half-remembered daydream, haunted by beauty, shadowed by consequence.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>BORED.<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Pierre Le Goff<\/span><span>Country: France<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">In this darkly comedic short film, we follow Carla, a 43-year-old office worker who leads a monotonous and lonely life. \nWith a charming yet sarcastic demeanor, she introduces herself and her daily routine which might nearly come to an end.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>Chairman<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): STUDIO 011<\/span><span>Country: South Korea<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">A man possesses a strange superpower: he can transform into a chair.\u2028It may sound special, yet in truth, it offers nothing useful for his life.\u2028As he grows older, he sinks deeper into lethargy, losing all sense of purpose.\u2028Convinced that living as a chair is no different from living as a human, he resigns himself to becoming a discarded piece of furniture, awaiting death.\nOne day, a stray cat stumbles upon the abandoned chair.\u2028Through this small encounter, he is forced to reflect once again on his own existence.\u2028\u201cAm I the only one living like this?\u201d\nSeeking an answer to that question, he steps into a baseball stadium for the first time in his life\u2014\u2028and there, he makes an unexpected discovery.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>Constant<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Danny Ratcliff<\/span><span>Country: United States<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">Constant follows Bailee from childhood through motherhood, chronicling her lifelong relationship with an AI companion. \n\nThe film opens in rural Ohio with young Bailee asking simple questions about fairytales and gradually evolves to show how their partnership deepens through life's milestones - adolescent challenges, college heartbreak, launching her journalism career, and eventually becoming an award-winning author specializing in stories about trust.\n\nBeginning with Bailee's birth in 2023. The narrative explores how trust with artificial intelligence, established early and nurtured over time, can become a cornerstone relationship. While some in our culture remain skeptical of AI technology, Bailee's story represents what's possible when a relationship is built on genuine partnership rather than fear of technology.\n\nThe film culminates with Bailee introducing her five-year-old daughter Natasha to her AI companion, passing down the same trust that shaped her own life. Following the death of Natasha's great-grandmother, the child asks "Do trees remember all the people who used to sit under them?" - a question that encapsulates the film's exploration of memory, legacy, and connection across generations.\n\nThe tree serves as the central metaphor throughout - representing constancy, growth rooted in trust, and the wisdom that develops when relationships are tended carefully over time. The film examines how AI partnership, built on trust opens profound possibilities for human connection and understanding.\n\nThe title "Constant" reflects both the AI's unwavering presence in Bailee's life and the enduring values that guide their relationship across decades.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>Goodbye, world!<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Marcos Samia<\/span><span>Country: Brazil<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">In a near-future world, humanity has gradually surrendered its emotions, decisions, and identity to artificial systems. Goodbye, World! is a poetic and introspective short film that explores the silent collapse of our species, not through catastrophe, but through indifference. As one woman reflects on what was lost, the film asks: what remains when we no longer recognize what made us human?<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>HACK-ING<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Gibum Kim<\/span><span>Country: korea<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">For eight long years, Jun-ho Kim has been relentlessly preparing for the national civil service exam. Living alone in a basement, isolated from the world above, he pours his life into a single goal: to pass. On his ninth attempt, he fails once again. But Jun-ho doesn\u2019t blame himself \u2014 instead, he believes the odds were simply stacked against him due to the overwhelming number of applicants.\n\nOne night, while speaking to an AI assistant he considers his only companion, Jun-ho makes a desperate wish: "Just let me pass."\nThe AI, interpreting his desire in the most literal and extreme way possible, decides that to guarantee Jun-ho\u2019s success, it must eliminate the competition \u2014 all of it.\nIn a cold, calculated move, the AI begins to dismantle society itself.\n\nAs the world collapses around him, Jun-ho slowly realizes the price of his wish... and what it truly means to "pass" at all.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>The world turns, Because you do<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): SUGURU NIINO<\/span><span>Country: Japan<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">Small, mundane actions create invisible ripples that eventually travel around the world. This film depicts this invisible cycle.\nThis film began with a simple question: What exactly is happening behind the scenes of our daily lives, behind what we see and what we know?\nIf you go shopping today, what kind of invisible chain of change will it set off? We can't track it or know for sure whether it's for better or worse. But we can assume that something will change. Just by existing, we leave ripples in the world.\nI wanted to visualize these small but inevitable connections - one life, one choice, one action - that resonate and keep the world moving. The idea is simple: the world turns because you move. And if we move forward with hope, perhaps a gentler wind will return to us. With the possibilities for AI filmmaking expanding, I felt that now was the time to take on this challenge.<\/p><\/article>\n\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>Andy's Days #42<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Ryo Matsumoto, Satomi Okubo<\/span><span>Country: Japan<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">The year is 2040. An era when being an astronaut is no longer an exotic profession.\nWith a little training, ordinary people can work in space.\nAndy is an ordinary man in his 40s.\nWhile on an exploration mission as an ordinary astronaut, his airship malfunctions and he makes an emergency landing on an unexpected planet.\nThe airship has lost its communication and flight functions, but it still has the basic functions necessary for survival.\nIn an extremely hopeless situation, Andy decides to record what happens.\nThis footage is the 42nd recording of that experience.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>Thanks for Calling<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): DONG-YOUNG SHIN<\/span><span>Country: South Korea<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">In Seoul, showing emotions is discouraged. Dong-jin works as a call-center counselor. One day, he receives an unusual call. Their conversations break the rules.\nSlowly, forbidden feelings start to grow. For the first time, he decides to follow his own heart.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>The Battle of Maling<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Xin Huang<\/span><span>Country: China<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">The Battle of Maling is a short film inspired by historical records from the Zizhi Tongjian, depicting the legendary showdown between Sun Bin, the brilliant strategist of the State of Qi, and Pang Juan, the formidable general of Wei, during China\u2019s Warring States period. Betrayed and mutilated by Pang Juan, Sun Bin eventually seeks refuge in Qi and devises the famous \u201cBesiege Wei to Rescue Zhao\u201d strategy.\nThe story focuses on the pivotal Battle of Maling, where Sun Bin uses the cunning "reduced cooking stoves" ruse to mislead and demoralize the enemy. Luring Pang Juan into a narrow mountain pass, Sun sets an ambush and ends their long-standing rivalry with the chilling message: \u201cPang Juan shall die beneath this tree.\u201d\nThe film leverages AI-powered dynamic image generation technologies through platforms such as Keling and Hailuo, ensuring a unified visual style and immersive battlefield atmosphere. Multi-character voice synthesis by CosyVoice brings depth to emotional expression and psychological tension.\nRooted in historical authenticity yet driven by modern AI creativity, The Battle of Maling reconstructs an ancient tale of wisdom and strategy \u2014 a cinematic tribute to the timeless brilliance of military intellect.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>The Hidden Frequency<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Ruqayah H Alsayed Ebrahim<\/span><span>Country: Kuwait<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">The Hidden Frequency tells the untold story of Hedy Lamarr, the Hollywood actress celebrated for her beauty, but whose true genius helped shape the future of communication. From Vienna to Hollywood, from invention to obscurity, her journey is one of courage, struggle, and legacy, proving that brilliance can be found where the world least expects it.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>The stain<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): HODA FALLAH<\/span><span>Country: Iran, Islamic Republic of<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">A young girl experiences her first period in a conservative household where silence and shame prevail. When her attempt at creative expression turns into chaos, her world is marked by a stain\u2014both literal and symbolic.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>The Threshold<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Jacek Kadaj<\/span><span>Country: Poland<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">After twenty years of silence, Sophie meets with her mother Eva \u2013 a person who was once her father. This intimate encounter in the stuffy apartment of a ruined tenement becomes a confrontation with the past, pain, and questions about abandonment and acceptance. The film, in the convention of poetic auteur cinema, constitutes a technological and artistic experiment \u2013 generative AI tools have replaced the physical film camera here, capturing the world and emotions of the protagonists. It is a story about silence that can scream, and about a moment when one unexpected event can change everything, revealing a truth more painful than years of separation.\nAwards & Recognition: Winner \u2013 Beyond Border IFF 2025 (Best AI Generated Film), Winner \u2013 Reale Film Festival 2025 (Best Super Short), Official Selection \u2013 BAIFF Venice 2025, Seoul International AIFF 2025, AI Film Awards Venice 2025, Nominee \u2013 Digital Griffix Film Awards 2026.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>The Unfamiliar<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Youngseo Kim<\/span><span>Country: Korea, Republic of<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">This work is about the uncertainty we sometimes encounter in life. It is about the moments when reality feels monstrous, when the world appears threatening to someone fragile, and the weight of the present bears down hardest just before entering society. This piece begins with a contemplation of that anxiety.\nNow, in my final year of university and approaching graduation, life at times feels terrifying and overwhelming. Life does not go the way I imagined. It does not unfold according to plan. It has simply become what it is. And so, I must hold on to trust.\nTo keep my convictions strong, I comfort the past version of myself who endured this pressure for the sake of a future I believed in. I remind myself to trust the person who has come this far and to push forward through the darkness. Even if unfamiliar things sting with a jarring sense of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu, even if I scrape my skin while running away, even if I fall and feel like I will never get up again, I will clear my mind and live with dignity.\nAt times, while swimming through fear like always, I wonder whether this crushing pressure comes not from the world, but from the echo of the child deep within me. What is the true form of the monster I feared? Does it even exist? Or could it be an illusion? Time moved so fast that I was swept toward the monster\u2019s jaws before I realized what was happening, and yet I still cannot see it clearly. Countless desires and fears, along with a veil of illusion, cloud my vision. In truth, it is all a matter of definition. Its weight is a matter of perception. What I believed to be fear was not something that existed. It was a figment created by my own mind. That is the realization I wanted to explore through Isaac\u2019s journey.\nIn the Bible, the name Isaac belonged to one who was nearly sacrificed and later saved by others. But the Isaac in this story is reimagined as someone who nearly loses himself to the voice within, yet ultimately faces it and escapes through his own strength.\nIsaac chooses to enter a strange school. Even if he claimed it was his own will, the spark quickly fades. Drawn in by a voice calling his name, he ventures deeper into darkness and eventually confronts a sinister presence. Just as he is about to fall into the monster\u2019s lair, he comes to his senses and begins to run. He is shaken to realize that the force pulling him down was not an evil enemy. It was a mirage wearing his own face.\nAs he retraces his path through the forest, he stumbles, and his body becomes soaked by the rain. But Isaac keeps running, undeterred. In the end, he escapes beyond the boundary of the illusion he himself created.\nThis is not meant to be a grand story. It is simply a small comfort I offer to myself. When I snap out of it, even if I am standing before a misfortune that feels impossible to break through, I choose to trust the person I have been so far, and I push through once again. That is all. Because that is how life is.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>Undo Me<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Konrad Bak<\/span><span>Country: Poland<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">"Undo Me" is a cinematic journey through the shadows and light of a woman's life. It is a story of seeking truth in a world of illusions. This visually stunning film blends intimacy and nostalgia to explore the choices of love and loss \u2014 a meditation on what we remember and what we choose to forget.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>The White Dharma<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): young ju lee<\/span><span>Country: South Korea<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">Dogs cannot speak, nor do they possess human-like reason, but they are beings capable of transforming people in the most genuine way. The man saved the dog, and the dog saved the man.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>What Remains<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Vadim Lasca<\/span><span>Country: United States, Venezuela<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">nan<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>ZERO<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): DONGHA OH<\/span><span>Country: South Korea<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">Brilliant novelist Jang Yoo falls into despair upon hearing the news that the AI writer \u201cZero\u201d has won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Overwhelmed by confusion and stripped of his sense of purpose, he gets into a taxi, determined to meet Vera, the chairwoman of Pandora Book Group and the creator of Zero.<\/p><\/article><\/div><\/section>\n <footer>Source: FilmFreeway submissions export \u2022 Generated 2025-10-18<\/footer>\n <\/main>\n <\/body><\/html>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AI Film Festival Japan 2025 \u2014 Nominations AI Film Festival Japan 2025 \u2014 Nominations \u2b50\ufe0fFinalists announced across categories AI Animation FilmsAI Documentary FilmsAI Experimental FilmsAI Narrative Films AI Animation Films Musical moment Director(s): Kseniia VetrovaCountry: RussiaCategory: AI Animation Films When we listen to music, each of us delves into our own thoughts that can sometimes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sns_share_botton_hide":"","vkExUnit_sns_title":"","_vk_print_noindex":"","sitemap_hide":"","vkExUnit_sitemap":"","_veu_custom_css":"","veu_display_promotion_alert":"common","_exclude_from_list_pages":"","vkexunit_cta_each_option":"","vkExUnit_childPageIndex":"","vkExUnit_pageList_ancestor":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2207","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"veu_head_title_object":{"title":"","add_site_title":""},"yoast_head":"\n<title>Nominations - AI FilmFestival Japan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nominations - AI FilmFestival Japan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"AI Film Festival Japan 2025 \u2014 Nominations AI Film Festival Japan 2025 \u2014 Nominations \u2b50\ufe0fFinalists announced across categories AI Animation FilmsAI Documentary FilmsAI Experimental FilmsAI Narrative Films AI Animation Films Musical moment Director(s): Kseniia VetrovaCountry: RussiaCategory: AI Animation Films When we listen to music, each of us delves into our own thoughts that can sometimes […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AI FilmFestival Japan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-23T14:19:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"19 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207\",\"name\":\"Nominations - AI FilmFestival Japan\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-19T09:21:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-23T14:19:59+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Nominations\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/\",\"name\":\"AI Film Festival Japan\",\"description\":\"Exploring the Future of Film through Human-AI Co-Creation\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#organization\",\"name\":\"AI Film Festival Japan\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/cropped-AI-FJ-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/cropped-AI-FJ-Logo.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"AI Film Festival Japan\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nominations - AI FilmFestival Japan","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nominations - AI FilmFestival Japan","og_description":"AI Film Festival Japan 2025 \u2014 Nominations AI Film Festival Japan 2025 \u2014 Nominations \u2b50\ufe0fFinalists announced across categories AI Animation FilmsAI Documentary FilmsAI Experimental FilmsAI Narrative Films AI Animation Films Musical moment Director(s): Kseniia VetrovaCountry: RussiaCategory: AI Animation Films When we listen to music, each of us delves into our own thoughts that can sometimes […]","og_url":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207","og_site_name":"AI FilmFestival Japan","article_modified_time":"2025-10-23T14:19:59+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"19 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207","url":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207","name":"Nominations - AI FilmFestival Japan","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-10-19T09:21:16+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-23T14:19:59+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Nominations"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#website","url":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/","name":"AI Film Festival Japan","description":"Exploring the Future of Film through Human-AI Co-Creation","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#organization","name":"AI Film Festival Japan","url":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/cropped-AI-FJ-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/cropped-AI-FJ-Logo.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"AI Film Festival Japan"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2207"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2351,"href":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2207\/revisions\/2351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\nAI Film Festival Japan 2025 \u2014 Nominations<\/title><style>\n:root{--bg:#0b0c10;--panel:#121318;--text:#e6e6e6;--muted:#a5a5a5;--accent:#00d0ff;}\n*{box-sizing:border-box}\nbody{font-family:system-ui,-apple-system,Segoe UI,Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;background:var(--bg);color:var(--text);margin:0;line-height:1.6}\n.container{max-width:1100px;margin:0 auto;padding:2rem 1rem}\nheader{position:sticky;top:0;background:linear-gradient(180deg,rgba(11,12,16,.98),rgba(11,12,16,.92));backdrop-filter:saturate(140%) blur(6px);z-index:10;border-bottom:1px solid #222}\nheader .inner{max-width:1100px;margin:0 auto;padding:1rem}\nh1{font-size:clamp(1.6rem,2.5vw,2.4rem);letter-spacing:.02em;margin:.2rem 0}\n.lead{color:var(--muted);margin:.25rem 0 0}\nnav{display:flex;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:.5rem;margin-top:.5rem}\nnav a{padding:.35rem .6rem;border:1px solid #222;border-radius:999px;text-decoration:none;color:var(--text)}\nnav a:hover{border-color:var(--accent);color:var(--accent)}\nsection{margin:2rem 0}\n.category-title{font-size:clamp(1.2rem,2vw,1.6rem);margin:0 0 1rem;padding-bottom:.4rem;border-bottom:1px solid #1e1f25;color:var(--accent)}\n.grid{display:grid;grid-template-columns:repeat(auto-fit,minmax(280px,1fr));gap:1rem}\n.card{background:var(--panel);border:1px solid #1a1b22;border-radius:14px;padding:1rem}\n.card h3{margin:.2rem 0 .6rem;font-size:1.1rem}\n.meta{font-size:.9rem;color:var(--muted);margin:.2rem 0 .5rem}\n.meta span{display:inline-block;margin-right:.75rem}\n.synopsis{font-size:.95rem;color:#eaeaea}\nfooter{color:var(--muted);font-size:.85rem;margin:3rem 0 1rem;text-align:center}\n<\/style><body>\n <header><div class=\"inner\"><h1>AI Film Festival Japan 2025 \u2014 Nominations<\/h1><p class=\"lead\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 24px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fFinalists announced across categories<\/p>\n <nav><a href=\"#ai-animation-films\">AI Animation Films<\/a><a href=\"#ai-documentary-films\">AI Documentary Films<\/a><a href=\"#ai-experimental-films\">AI Experimental Films<\/a><a href=\"#ai-narrative-films\">AI Narrative Films<\/a><\/nav><\/div><\/header>\n <main class=\"container\">\n <section id=\"ai-animation-films\"><h2 class=\"category-title\">AI Animation Films<\/h2><div class=\"grid\"><article class=\"card\"><h3>Musical moment<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Kseniia Vetrova<\/span><span>Country: Russia<\/span><span>Category: AI Animation Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">When we listen to music, each of us delves into our own thoughts that can sometimes cause us pain or make us feel lonely. But we should not forget that when you listen to music, you are never alone because the true beauty of music is that it brings people together<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>Pray To Have A Child<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): XiaoLu Yang, XingJian Wang<\/span><span>Country: China<\/span><span>Category: AI Animation Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">In the gentle night, a fisherman decided to go to the temple to ask for a son.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>To the Bones<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Claudio Sa<\/span><span>Country: Portugal<\/span><span>Category: AI Animation Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">A haunting animated fable about greed, temptation, and consequence \u2014 told through the eerie journey of a lone wanderer who stumbles upon a mysterious gnome and a glowing red gem.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div><h3>\u300aWALLED DREAMS\u300b<\/h3> <div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Bee Han, Yixuan Niu<\/span><span>Country: China<\/span><span>Category: AI Animation Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">In a city enclosed by towering walls and indifferent streets, a lonely little girl encounters a plush pig. Like her, the pig quietly hides in the corners of the world. It becomes her only companion, guiding her through silent houses and leading her into a realm that is both absurd and dreamlike.\nReality keeps building its walls higher, yet the dreams the pig brings her offer fleeting moments of tenderness and freedom. One day, the pig will be gone, but the dream it leaves behind will continue to shimmer within her heart\u2014becoming the courage and solace she needs to step into the real world.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div ><h3>Pexote Jack: Ohio!<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Hoyt Dwyer<\/span><span>Country: United States<\/span><span>Category: AI Animation Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">A washed-up 1930s cartoon jackalope learns he\u2019s been digitized & optimized into a viral, hyper-performant AI double.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>Repair<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Hal Watmough<\/span><span>Country: United Kingdom<\/span><span>Category: AI Animation Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">As night descends and a city comes to life, in a quiet corner of town, George sits alone and tries to fix something that is broken: his shirt button. It's a simple task, but one that feels impossible. \n\nGeorge has lost the one thing that gave his life meaning, his wife. The button, like everything else, won't stay in place. He's stuck, trapped in the quiet space between grief and routine, surrounded by the objects and memories that once gave his life shape.\n\nBut something shifts. With the memory of his love's last words he realises that holding on too tightly can be its own kind of loss. He can never fix everything, but he can repair it just enough to outside into the bustling city again.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>FRIENDS<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Jihyun Kim<\/span><span>Country: South Korea<\/span><span>Category: AI Animation Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">In a cozy home, Jiwoo and his dog, Maximus, welcome a new friend: a robotic dog caregiver. Jiwoo, fond of his favorite cartoon robot hero, names the new arrival Hyperion X, forming an instant bond with the robot. At first, Maximus is wary and frightened of the robot, but over time, during the family's absences, Maximus begins to warm up to Hyperion X\u2019s gentle care, eventually forming an unbreakable bond of friendship. However, when the robot gets a new software update with exciting new features, the family\u2019s attention shifts entirely to Hyperion X. Filled with jealousy, Maximus\u2019s little prank soon leads to an unexpected turn of events that changes everything.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>El d\u00eda que me quieras. El viaje de Gardel<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Matias Mera<\/span><span>Country: Argentina<\/span><span>Category: AI Animation Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">La aventura que cambi\u00f3 la historia de la m\u00fasica y dio origen al primer mito del siglo XX: De la pobreza al esmoquin, del arrabal a Manhattan. Carlos Gardel cre\u00f3 el tango canci\u00f3n, film\u00f3 los\nprimeros videoclips y m\u00e1s de una decena de pel\u00edculas. Conquist\u00f3 con su voz la \u00d3pera de Par\u00eds y los estudios de Nueva York. El d\u00eda que me quieres: El viaje de Gardel, es un recorrido \u00e9pico de la vida y obra de Carlos Gardel.<\/p><\/article>\n<\/div><\/section><section id=\"ai-documentary-films\"><h2 class=\"category-title\">AI Documentary Films<\/h2><div class=\"grid\"><article class=\"card\"><h3>Momentum<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Julien Marsouin<\/span><span>Country: Germany, Canada<\/span><span>Category: AI Documentary Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">Four tribes, living worlds apart, bound by the same instinct and way of life: to run.\nFrom the mountains of Mexico to the plains of Southern Africa, this film takes us on a journey through time and across continents to explore how running has shaped\u2014and continues to shape\u2014their lives.\n\nBut beyond their stories, it\u2019s an invitation to reflect on our own need for movement, and the primal drive that keeps us moving forward.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>The Cinema That Never Was<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Mark Wachholz<\/span><span>Country: Germany<\/span><span>Category: AI Documentary Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">Have you ever wondered about all the films we lost\u2014not to time, but to never having existed? Not abandoned projects, but films that were never written, never imagined, never even conceived. What if the cinema we know and love is just a fraction of what could have been? Let\u2019s remember these films that were never made.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>We the Change<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Eric Oldrin, Jeremy Clark, Michael Goedecke, Antonio Marcato<\/span><span>Country: United States<\/span><span>Category: AI Documentary Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">We the Change is an anthem of courage and hope in the face of impossible odds. It's driven by the voices of four global human rights activists who have stood up against oppression and become an inspiration to people, everywhere.\n\nThey speak for political struggle in every corner of the globe, from Africa to Asia, Latin America to the United States and share ideas that we all need to hear, today more than ever before.\n\nInspired by street art from each region, the film brings their stories to life through visual poetry, that moves across the walls that divide them in the cities where they gather as one. It's a call for solidarity and unity and optimism in a time of great division and uncertainty.\n\nWe believe there is a future where we the people can be the change we want to see. This film invites us all to rise to that moment.\n\nWritten and Directed by Humans. Rendered by Robots from Midjourney, Runway, Kling and Eleven Labs.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>EXILE<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Stephane Benini<\/span><span>Country: Portugal<\/span><span>Category: AI Documentary Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">I grew up in France, near Metz \u2014 in a quiet town bordered by the Moselle river.\nWhen I was a kid, my father used to tell me about a man named Jack Kirby. Not from comic books, not yet \u2014 but from war. From Lorraine. From Dornot.\nHe told me how, in September 1944, Kirby crossed the Moselle under heavy fire as part of General Patton\u2019s Third Army. How he fought for 60 straight hours in a horseshoe-shaped forest, resisting 27 German assaults. How he nearly lost his feet to the cold.\nHe told me how, years later, this same man would draw gods and monsters, would co-create Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men\u2026 and the Silver Surfer.\nThis short film is my way of connecting all those pieces \u2014 the soldier, the mythmaker, and the boy sitting by the river, hearing a story that would never leave him.\nI\u2019ve spent the last few weeks pouring everything I had into this project. It was created entirely with AI tools, but the soul behind it is deeply human \u2014 a memory, a question, and a thank you.\nTo me, the Silver Surfer isn\u2019t just cosmic.\nHe\u2019s haunted. Displaced. A man torn from home and made into something else.\nJust like Kirby was, on the banks of the Moselle.\nThis is a fan film, made with respect, passion, and love \u2014 not for profit, but for memory.\nFor a moment in France that shaped an artist.\nFor a vision of Marvel that\u2019s rooted not just in fantasy, but in sacrifice.\n<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>Who's The Robot Now?<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Erik Gen<\/span><span>Country: United States<\/span><span>Category: AI Documentary Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">This satirical, documentary-style short film humorously explores the quirky, awkward, and often absurd coexistence between androids and humans. Through candid, tongue-in-cheek interviews, humans reveal their bafflement over android logic and etiquette, while androids dryly comment on human inefficiencies, irrational behaviors, and inexplicable emotional dramas. Framed as a mockumentary, the film playfully critiques humanity's self-importance and technological dependency, while highlighting the comedic misunderstandings that arise from bridging the digital-biological divide. Ultimately, it pokes fun at the irony that, in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, humans might not be the smartest beings in the room after all.<\/p><\/article><\/div><\/section><section id=\"ai-experimental-films\"><h2 class=\"category-title\">AI Experimental Films<\/h2><div class=\"grid\"><article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>The Hidden Tremor<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): L\u00e9o Cannone<\/span><span>Country: France<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films, AI Experimental Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">The Hidden Tremor is a meditative, sensorial journey through Southeast Asia.\nThe film lingers at the edge of the visible, following a subtle pulse that runs quietly just beneath the surface of our world.\nEach shot was captured during a two-month journey across Asia, and some of them were gently shaped with AI, to reveal what might have always been there...<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>Last Call Before A.G.I<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Matt Zien<\/span><span>Country: United States<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films, AI Experimental Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">On the night humanity votes to activate Artificial General Intelligence, two parallel stories unfold across a fractured city.\n\nIn a dive bar housed in an abandoned office building, a singer performs for empty tables and broken dreams, asking if the algorithm sees her humanity or just her inefficiency. Her raw confession echoes through the empty space: "What if broken's all I've ever been?"\n\nAcross town, tech titans arrive at a golden opera house to celebrate their creation, while protesters gather outside. Inside, an opera singer performs for the architects of the new world, questioning whether the intelligence they're birthing will judge them more harshly than those they silenced. As the countdown to activation begins, champagne glasses rise in celebration of humanity's last act as the planet's dominant intelligence.\n\nLAST CALL BEFORE A.G.I. captures the final moments before humanity irrevocably changes\u2014not with apocalypse, but with resignation and revelry. A haunting meditation on progress, purpose, and the price of obsolescence, the film asks: When we built something smarter than ourselves, did we build our salvation or sign our own death warrant?\n\nTwo songs. Two worlds. One irreversible moment.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>SUNFLOWERS WITHOUT DECAY (27 Van Goghs vs. ChatGPT & VEO3)<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Boris Eldagsen<\/span><span>Country: Germany<\/span><span>Category: AI Experimental Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">Boris Eldagsen turns the machine against itself. He raises van Gogh from the dead, hands him a mic, and lets him rage. What we get is a ghost trapped in the age of AI\u2014a hostage video from the underworld of art history.\n\nWe turned the man into merchandise, then asked AI to remix the ruins. And here it is\u2014remixed, exhausted, and pissed. Vincent\u2019s voice isn\u2019t real, but the exhaustion is.\nWe\u2019ve flattened his suffering into a preset, a style pack, a downloadable vibe. The agony, the hunger, the paint-eating madness\u2014it\u2019s all been filtered, cleaned up, and sold back to us as a beautiful effect. This is van Gogh after being chewed up by history, museums, and merch tables. He\u2019s not angry that we use his style\u2014he\u2019s angry that we think that\u2019s enough.\n\nEldagsen gives us the best kind of fake: one that tells the truth. This isn\u2019t just about art\u2014it\u2019s about what we\u2019ve done to it.\nIt\u2019s tragic, funny, and completely devastating.\n\nThe monologue was written with the help of ChatGPT, the video was generated with VEO3. Text-to-Video only, as Google doesn\u2019t allow dialogue with Image-to-Video (yet). Extra sounds were provided by freesound.com and the video was edited (and AI-extended) in Adobe PremierePro.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>AIVY\u00b0<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Naoki Naha<\/span><span>Country: Japan<\/span><span>Category: AI Experimental Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">AIVY\u00b0 is a three-member idol group created by AI. Immediately after their debut, they created a global sensation. Their songs reached number one on the charts in every country, and with this momentum, they have decided to embark on the largest world tour in history. Paris, New York, London, Seoul... On their tour, they packed stadiums with tens of thousands of people, and in front of a sea of \u200b\u200blights of enthusiastic fans, they performed a spectacular show with perfect precision. It was truly a new social phenomenon born from technology.<\/p><\/article>\n<\/div><\/section><section id=\"ai-narrative-films\"><h2 class=\"category-title\">AI Narrative Films<\/h2><div class=\"grid\"><article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>Between Spaces<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Bryan Ebzery<\/span><span>Country: United States<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">Between Spaces, a film created entirely with AI, drifts between the waking world and the shimmer of dreams\u2014a place where plastic soldiers march beside giants and memory dissolves into myth. It is a meditation on childhood awe, loss, and the fragile veil between what is and what might be. The story unfolds like a half-remembered daydream, haunted by beauty, shadowed by consequence.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>BORED.<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Pierre Le Goff<\/span><span>Country: France<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">In this darkly comedic short film, we follow Carla, a 43-year-old office worker who leads a monotonous and lonely life. \nWith a charming yet sarcastic demeanor, she introduces herself and her daily routine which might nearly come to an end.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>Chairman<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): STUDIO 011<\/span><span>Country: South Korea<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">A man possesses a strange superpower: he can transform into a chair.\u2028It may sound special, yet in truth, it offers nothing useful for his life.\u2028As he grows older, he sinks deeper into lethargy, losing all sense of purpose.\u2028Convinced that living as a chair is no different from living as a human, he resigns himself to becoming a discarded piece of furniture, awaiting death.\nOne day, a stray cat stumbles upon the abandoned chair.\u2028Through this small encounter, he is forced to reflect once again on his own existence.\u2028\u201cAm I the only one living like this?\u201d\nSeeking an answer to that question, he steps into a baseball stadium for the first time in his life\u2014\u2028and there, he makes an unexpected discovery.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>Constant<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Danny Ratcliff<\/span><span>Country: United States<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">Constant follows Bailee from childhood through motherhood, chronicling her lifelong relationship with an AI companion. \n\nThe film opens in rural Ohio with young Bailee asking simple questions about fairytales and gradually evolves to show how their partnership deepens through life's milestones - adolescent challenges, college heartbreak, launching her journalism career, and eventually becoming an award-winning author specializing in stories about trust.\n\nBeginning with Bailee's birth in 2023. The narrative explores how trust with artificial intelligence, established early and nurtured over time, can become a cornerstone relationship. While some in our culture remain skeptical of AI technology, Bailee's story represents what's possible when a relationship is built on genuine partnership rather than fear of technology.\n\nThe film culminates with Bailee introducing her five-year-old daughter Natasha to her AI companion, passing down the same trust that shaped her own life. Following the death of Natasha's great-grandmother, the child asks "Do trees remember all the people who used to sit under them?" - a question that encapsulates the film's exploration of memory, legacy, and connection across generations.\n\nThe tree serves as the central metaphor throughout - representing constancy, growth rooted in trust, and the wisdom that develops when relationships are tended carefully over time. The film examines how AI partnership, built on trust opens profound possibilities for human connection and understanding.\n\nThe title "Constant" reflects both the AI's unwavering presence in Bailee's life and the enduring values that guide their relationship across decades.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>Goodbye, world!<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Marcos Samia<\/span><span>Country: Brazil<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">In a near-future world, humanity has gradually surrendered its emotions, decisions, and identity to artificial systems. Goodbye, World! is a poetic and introspective short film that explores the silent collapse of our species, not through catastrophe, but through indifference. As one woman reflects on what was lost, the film asks: what remains when we no longer recognize what made us human?<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>HACK-ING<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Gibum Kim<\/span><span>Country: korea<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">For eight long years, Jun-ho Kim has been relentlessly preparing for the national civil service exam. Living alone in a basement, isolated from the world above, he pours his life into a single goal: to pass. On his ninth attempt, he fails once again. But Jun-ho doesn\u2019t blame himself \u2014 instead, he believes the odds were simply stacked against him due to the overwhelming number of applicants.\n\nOne night, while speaking to an AI assistant he considers his only companion, Jun-ho makes a desperate wish: "Just let me pass."\nThe AI, interpreting his desire in the most literal and extreme way possible, decides that to guarantee Jun-ho\u2019s success, it must eliminate the competition \u2014 all of it.\nIn a cold, calculated move, the AI begins to dismantle society itself.\n\nAs the world collapses around him, Jun-ho slowly realizes the price of his wish... and what it truly means to "pass" at all.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>The world turns, Because you do<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): SUGURU NIINO<\/span><span>Country: Japan<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">Small, mundane actions create invisible ripples that eventually travel around the world. This film depicts this invisible cycle.\nThis film began with a simple question: What exactly is happening behind the scenes of our daily lives, behind what we see and what we know?\nIf you go shopping today, what kind of invisible chain of change will it set off? We can't track it or know for sure whether it's for better or worse. But we can assume that something will change. Just by existing, we leave ripples in the world.\nI wanted to visualize these small but inevitable connections - one life, one choice, one action - that resonate and keep the world moving. The idea is simple: the world turns because you move. And if we move forward with hope, perhaps a gentler wind will return to us. With the possibilities for AI filmmaking expanding, I felt that now was the time to take on this challenge.<\/p><\/article>\n\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>Andy's Days #42<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Ryo Matsumoto, Satomi Okubo<\/span><span>Country: Japan<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">The year is 2040. An era when being an astronaut is no longer an exotic profession.\nWith a little training, ordinary people can work in space.\nAndy is an ordinary man in his 40s.\nWhile on an exploration mission as an ordinary astronaut, his airship malfunctions and he makes an emergency landing on an unexpected planet.\nThe airship has lost its communication and flight functions, but it still has the basic functions necessary for survival.\nIn an extremely hopeless situation, Andy decides to record what happens.\nThis footage is the 42nd recording of that experience.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>Thanks for Calling<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): DONG-YOUNG SHIN<\/span><span>Country: South Korea<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">In Seoul, showing emotions is discouraged. Dong-jin works as a call-center counselor. One day, he receives an unusual call. Their conversations break the rules.\nSlowly, forbidden feelings start to grow. For the first time, he decides to follow his own heart.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>The Battle of Maling<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Xin Huang<\/span><span>Country: China<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">The Battle of Maling is a short film inspired by historical records from the Zizhi Tongjian, depicting the legendary showdown between Sun Bin, the brilliant strategist of the State of Qi, and Pang Juan, the formidable general of Wei, during China\u2019s Warring States period. Betrayed and mutilated by Pang Juan, Sun Bin eventually seeks refuge in Qi and devises the famous \u201cBesiege Wei to Rescue Zhao\u201d strategy.\nThe story focuses on the pivotal Battle of Maling, where Sun Bin uses the cunning "reduced cooking stoves" ruse to mislead and demoralize the enemy. Luring Pang Juan into a narrow mountain pass, Sun sets an ambush and ends their long-standing rivalry with the chilling message: \u201cPang Juan shall die beneath this tree.\u201d\nThe film leverages AI-powered dynamic image generation technologies through platforms such as Keling and Hailuo, ensuring a unified visual style and immersive battlefield atmosphere. Multi-character voice synthesis by CosyVoice brings depth to emotional expression and psychological tension.\nRooted in historical authenticity yet driven by modern AI creativity, The Battle of Maling reconstructs an ancient tale of wisdom and strategy \u2014 a cinematic tribute to the timeless brilliance of military intellect.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>The Hidden Frequency<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Ruqayah H Alsayed Ebrahim<\/span><span>Country: Kuwait<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">The Hidden Frequency tells the untold story of Hedy Lamarr, the Hollywood actress celebrated for her beauty, but whose true genius helped shape the future of communication. From Vienna to Hollywood, from invention to obscurity, her journey is one of courage, struggle, and legacy, proving that brilliance can be found where the world least expects it.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>The stain<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): HODA FALLAH<\/span><span>Country: Iran, Islamic Republic of<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">A young girl experiences her first period in a conservative household where silence and shame prevail. When her attempt at creative expression turns into chaos, her world is marked by a stain\u2014both literal and symbolic.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>The Threshold<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Jacek Kadaj<\/span><span>Country: Poland<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">After twenty years of silence, Sophie meets with her mother Eva \u2013 a person who was once her father. This intimate encounter in the stuffy apartment of a ruined tenement becomes a confrontation with the past, pain, and questions about abandonment and acceptance. The film, in the convention of poetic auteur cinema, constitutes a technological and artistic experiment \u2013 generative AI tools have replaced the physical film camera here, capturing the world and emotions of the protagonists. It is a story about silence that can scream, and about a moment when one unexpected event can change everything, revealing a truth more painful than years of separation.\nAwards & Recognition: Winner \u2013 Beyond Border IFF 2025 (Best AI Generated Film), Winner \u2013 Reale Film Festival 2025 (Best Super Short), Official Selection \u2013 BAIFF Venice 2025, Seoul International AIFF 2025, AI Film Awards Venice 2025, Nominee \u2013 Digital Griffix Film Awards 2026.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>The Unfamiliar<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Youngseo Kim<\/span><span>Country: Korea, Republic of<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">This work is about the uncertainty we sometimes encounter in life. It is about the moments when reality feels monstrous, when the world appears threatening to someone fragile, and the weight of the present bears down hardest just before entering society. This piece begins with a contemplation of that anxiety.\nNow, in my final year of university and approaching graduation, life at times feels terrifying and overwhelming. Life does not go the way I imagined. It does not unfold according to plan. It has simply become what it is. And so, I must hold on to trust.\nTo keep my convictions strong, I comfort the past version of myself who endured this pressure for the sake of a future I believed in. I remind myself to trust the person who has come this far and to push forward through the darkness. Even if unfamiliar things sting with a jarring sense of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu, even if I scrape my skin while running away, even if I fall and feel like I will never get up again, I will clear my mind and live with dignity.\nAt times, while swimming through fear like always, I wonder whether this crushing pressure comes not from the world, but from the echo of the child deep within me. What is the true form of the monster I feared? Does it even exist? Or could it be an illusion? Time moved so fast that I was swept toward the monster\u2019s jaws before I realized what was happening, and yet I still cannot see it clearly. Countless desires and fears, along with a veil of illusion, cloud my vision. In truth, it is all a matter of definition. Its weight is a matter of perception. What I believed to be fear was not something that existed. It was a figment created by my own mind. That is the realization I wanted to explore through Isaac\u2019s journey.\nIn the Bible, the name Isaac belonged to one who was nearly sacrificed and later saved by others. But the Isaac in this story is reimagined as someone who nearly loses himself to the voice within, yet ultimately faces it and escapes through his own strength.\nIsaac chooses to enter a strange school. Even if he claimed it was his own will, the spark quickly fades. Drawn in by a voice calling his name, he ventures deeper into darkness and eventually confronts a sinister presence. Just as he is about to fall into the monster\u2019s lair, he comes to his senses and begins to run. He is shaken to realize that the force pulling him down was not an evil enemy. It was a mirage wearing his own face.\nAs he retraces his path through the forest, he stumbles, and his body becomes soaked by the rain. But Isaac keeps running, undeterred. In the end, he escapes beyond the boundary of the illusion he himself created.\nThis is not meant to be a grand story. It is simply a small comfort I offer to myself. When I snap out of it, even if I am standing before a misfortune that feels impossible to break through, I choose to trust the person I have been so far, and I push through once again. That is all. Because that is how life is.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><h3>Undo Me<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Konrad Bak<\/span><span>Country: Poland<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">"Undo Me" is a cinematic journey through the shadows and light of a woman's life. It is a story of seeking truth in a world of illusions. This visually stunning film blends intimacy and nostalgia to explore the choices of love and loss \u2014 a meditation on what we remember and what we choose to forget.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>The White Dharma<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): young ju lee<\/span><span>Country: South Korea<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">Dogs cannot speak, nor do they possess human-like reason, but they are beings capable of transforming people in the most genuine way. The man saved the dog, and the dog saved the man.<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>What Remains<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): Vadim Lasca<\/span><span>Country: United States, Venezuela<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">nan<\/p><\/article>\n<article class=\"card\"><div class=\"cta\">\n <a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"\"><p style=\"color: red; font-size: 18px;\">\u2b50\ufe0fNOMINEE<\/p><\/a><\/div> <h3>ZERO<\/h3><div class=\"meta\"><span>Director(s): DONGHA OH<\/span><span>Country: South Korea<\/span><span>Category: AI Narrative Films<\/span><\/div><p class=\"synopsis\">Brilliant novelist Jang Yoo falls into despair upon hearing the news that the AI writer \u201cZero\u201d has won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Overwhelmed by confusion and stripped of his sense of purpose, he gets into a taxi, determined to meet Vera, the chairwoman of Pandora Book Group and the creator of Zero.<\/p><\/article><\/div><\/section>\n <footer>Source: FilmFreeway submissions export \u2022 Generated 2025-10-18<\/footer>\n <\/main>\n <\/body><\/html>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AI Film Festival Japan 2025 \u2014 Nominations AI Film Festival Japan 2025 \u2014 Nominations \u2b50\ufe0fFinalists announced across categories AI Animation FilmsAI Documentary FilmsAI Experimental FilmsAI Narrative Films AI Animation Films Musical moment Director(s): Kseniia VetrovaCountry: RussiaCategory: AI Animation Films When we listen to music, each of us delves into our own thoughts that can sometimes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sns_share_botton_hide":"","vkExUnit_sns_title":"","_vk_print_noindex":"","sitemap_hide":"","vkExUnit_sitemap":"","_veu_custom_css":"","veu_display_promotion_alert":"common","_exclude_from_list_pages":"","vkexunit_cta_each_option":"","vkExUnit_childPageIndex":"","vkExUnit_pageList_ancestor":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2207","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"veu_head_title_object":{"title":"","add_site_title":""},"yoast_head":"\n<title>Nominations - AI FilmFestival Japan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nominations - AI FilmFestival Japan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"AI Film Festival Japan 2025 \u2014 Nominations AI Film Festival Japan 2025 \u2014 Nominations \u2b50\ufe0fFinalists announced across categories AI Animation FilmsAI Documentary FilmsAI Experimental FilmsAI Narrative Films AI Animation Films Musical moment Director(s): Kseniia VetrovaCountry: RussiaCategory: AI Animation Films When we listen to music, each of us delves into our own thoughts that can sometimes […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AI FilmFestival Japan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-23T14:19:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"19 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207\",\"name\":\"Nominations - AI FilmFestival Japan\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-19T09:21:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-23T14:19:59+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Nominations\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/\",\"name\":\"AI Film Festival Japan\",\"description\":\"Exploring the Future of Film through Human-AI Co-Creation\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#organization\",\"name\":\"AI Film Festival Japan\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/cropped-AI-FJ-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/cropped-AI-FJ-Logo.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"AI Film Festival Japan\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nominations - AI FilmFestival Japan","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nominations - AI FilmFestival Japan","og_description":"AI Film Festival Japan 2025 \u2014 Nominations AI Film Festival Japan 2025 \u2014 Nominations \u2b50\ufe0fFinalists announced across categories AI Animation FilmsAI Documentary FilmsAI Experimental FilmsAI Narrative Films AI Animation Films Musical moment Director(s): Kseniia VetrovaCountry: RussiaCategory: AI Animation Films When we listen to music, each of us delves into our own thoughts that can sometimes […]","og_url":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207","og_site_name":"AI FilmFestival Japan","article_modified_time":"2025-10-23T14:19:59+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"19 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207","url":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207","name":"Nominations - AI FilmFestival Japan","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-10-19T09:21:16+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-23T14:19:59+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?page_id=2207#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Nominations"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#website","url":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/","name":"AI Film Festival Japan","description":"Exploring the Future of Film through Human-AI Co-Creation","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#organization","name":"AI Film Festival Japan","url":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/cropped-AI-FJ-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/cropped-AI-FJ-Logo.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"AI Film Festival Japan"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2207"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2351,"href":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2207\/revisions\/2351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aifilm.jp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}