Why we created a Best AI Generated Film category

Most festivals are still deciding how to feel about films made with generative tools. We decided to give them a category and judge them properly.

The argument for

Every shift in film technology has arrived with the same argument attached. Sound would kill performance. Colour would kill mood. Digital would kill cinema. Something is always lost and something is always gained, and the work that survives is the work with something to say.

A category forces the question into the open. If AI generated films can hold their own in front of an international panel and a live audience, that is worth knowing. If they cannot, that is worth knowing too.

What we are looking for

The same things we look for anywhere else. A reason for the film to exist. Control of the medium. An ending that earns itself. The tool does not excuse a film from being about something, and it does not disqualify it either.

It is already producing work

Best AI Generated Film produced joint winners in 2025, which tells you the standard was closer than the sceptics would like. The full results are in the 2025 archive.

The category sits alongside every other award on the categories page. It is not a novelty section and it is not judged more gently.