IFFI@56 hosts trailblazing and novel AI Film Festival & CinemAI Hackathon doling out sumptuous prize monies for the pick of winners at the film festival .

S Viswanath

AI or Artificial Intelligence is the new currency and lexicon of transactions. Dictating the disruptive landscape across the board spanning all strata of business, economy and industry spectrums the world over.

Conglomerates are furiously working overtime in this novelle Age of Intelligence marked by rapid advancement and widespread integration of Artificial Intelligence. Especially Generative AI (GenAI), which is intrusively impacting all aspects of commerce, civil society, and common life.

While transforming the way transactions are conducted, creating new opportunities, and raising important challenges, the AI milieu is bringing about a tectonic shift in how machine-man interfaces happen augmenting human capabilities and tasks.

Whilst, at the same time, cataclysmically reshaping the world, much like Industrial Revolution or the advent of Internet, as machines are ingested and imbibed with “intelligence” once exclusive privilege and providence provided disposition of humankind.

Like all other sectors, Cinema or The Seventh Art too is witnessing how digital transformation is changing and challenging the film industry and AI is rewriting the entire spectrum of the film industry value chain and upending everything that we know and were comfortably taken in our stride.

In recent times one can witness how the facilitating use of AI has impacted the pivotal functions of the film industry’s value chain such as Creation, Production, Dissemination and Exhibition, how the audience receives and consumes the content. Why, the very whole works in fact.

So much so, it can be seen, and is being witnessed, how AI’s influence in the film industry has seen a quantum leap in the wake of recent technological advancements and in particular, how, the conscious and indiscriminate and pervasive use of AI in filmmaking while changing entertainment business’ playfield is also seriously posing ethical and societal challenges as well.

With the impact and influence of AI having only grown in leaps and bounds thanks to recent advancements, with production houses and filmmakers et al adopting emerging technologies designed to gain high levels of performance and competitive advantage, it has, in turn, brought into sharp focus ethical concerns, such as authorship, creative integrity, and labour displacement that accompany AI’s expanding role.

With AI transforming filmmaking faster than the wink of an eye and with new tools helping creators tell stories, it is indeed obvious that the future of film is being rewritten. As if taking a cue from all these developments, the 56th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), NFDC in collaboration with LTIMindtree has announced India’s first-ever AI Film Festival.

Billed as a visionary platform that celebrates fusion of artificial intelligence and cinematic creativity the trailblazing ideation initiative has invited acclaimed and award winning AI-generated short films from filmmakers and festivals from across the globe that redefine storytelling, visual design, and narrative innovation.

Curated within the vibrant setting of IFFI 2025 in Goa, the festival will be showcasing a diverse selection of works that push the boundaries of traditional cinema, offering audiences a glimpse into the future of filmmaking powered by the all previse tools of AI.

While AI Film Festival will culminate in the prestigious awards ceremony honouring most groundbreaking and impactful AI-generated films, and films screened at IFFI Goa 2025, running parallel will be CinemAI Hackathon, creative showcase which highlights the artistry and ethical imagination of global creators using AI as co-creator.

Through this initiative, the three collaborators – LTIMindtree, NFDC, and IFFI propose to position India as global epicentre for AI-driven cinematic expression, inviting world to witness, participate in, and shape the next frontier of visual storytelling.

The Craft Master Award – Best AI Short Film (₹3,00,000) The Grand Prix honour, will be awarded to the most outstanding AI-generated short film for its excellence in storytelling, execution, and emotional impact.

The Craft Vanguard Award – Most Innovative Use of AI Experimental Narrative (₹2,00,000) celebrating bold experimentation and creative risk-taking in AI-driven storytelling.

The Craft Spectra Award – Best AI Animation/Visual Design (₹1,00,000) Awarded for exceptional visual artistry and design powered by AI tools and techniques.

The AI Film Hackathon 2025 with the tagline Responsible Creativity Meets Innovation is being hosted under Waves Film Bazaar at IFFI Goa, and celebrates convergence of art, technology, and ethics in filmmaking.

The initiative invites creators from around the world to explore limitless potential of Artificial Intelligence in storytelling — while upholding responsibility, transparency, and creative authenticity. Participants are encouraged to experiment, innovate, and redefine cinematic expression using AI-driven tools for video generation, scripting, and production.

The CinemAI Hackathon is a two-stage creative technology challenge conducted Online. Ten teams will be shortlisted by a panel of experts to participate in CinemAI Hackathon to be announced on November 16, 2025. The shortlisted team will conceptualise, produce, and edit a short film (1 to 2 minutes) entirely with AI around a theme revealed at the start of the event on November 20th and submit the film within 48 hours. The winners will be announced on November 24, 2025.

The awards will see the Best AI Film fetch it a sumptuous ₹4,00,000 in cash prize money, while Most Innovative Use of AI will get ₹2,00,000., with the Best Storytelling, Best Visuals and Best Sound/Music Design all being awarded ₹1,00,000 apiece.

With the world’s film or entertainment industry progressing through a period of transition as it integrates AI into its various sectoral processes, kindling both curiosity and excitement, angst and apprehension, with AI in filmmaking widely expected to become an integral part of industry’s future, and filmmakers are exploring how to use AI responsibly to amplify creativity and avoid ethical pitfalls, IFFI’s attempt to provide a creative platform to test the waters and tease the AI of the talented human creators and ideaters is indeed a welcome augury.

As AI is embraced with as much curiosity and utmost caution, Festival Director & Noted Film Director Shekhar Kapur observes in a BBC interview “everything we think is sacrosanct today is going to change. Am I not sum total of my own experiences? So what’s the difference between ‘me’ and ‘AI’.”

Citing the example of his own film Masoom, Kapur says, his ChatGPT request surprisingly and interestingly was able to garner “the fundamental moral conflict. So, if you can understand the underlying moral conflict of a story it means that that AI has really advanced. But It does not have a morality of its own.”

Well, with filmmakers in the country already experimenting with fully AI generated movies such as Love You in Kannada by S Narasimhamurthy, Naisha by Vivek Anchalia in Hindi, Chiranjeevi Hanuman – The Eternal in Hindi by Rajesh Mapuskar, Maharaj In Denims the English film based on novelist Khushwant Singh’s 2014 novel about an affluent Chandigarh youngster who thinks he is a 1984 anti-Sikh riot victim and the reincarnation of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, by Balpreet Kaur, all claiming to be first AI generated films, the AI generated movie scene in the country seems to be hotting up with each one trying claim the first mover epithet.

On the triad’s initiative, NFDC Managing Director Prakash Magdum observed “IFFI has always embraced emerging voices and technologies. This initiative is a platform for filmmakers, technologists, and innovators to explore the future of storytelling and position India as a global leader in AI-driven cinematic innovation.”

There you have it. Will AI triumph over human intelligence with whose “intellectual” inputs is what it functions to fruitfully throw up scenarios for the final script or will human intellect will still hold water and continue to dictate its dominance is to be seen as a battle royale is being played out across the various big ticket production studios and streaming platforms. For now though we can only raise a toast to AI & Human Intellect and call out Prosit!

S VISWANATH is a veteran film critic who officiates as JURY at several National & International Film Festivals. He deputises as CHIEF CINEMA CURATOR/PROGRAMMER & CREATIVE ADVISOR for Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes). He also curates & advises on the selection of shorts & documentaries for Bengaluru International Short Film Festival (BISFF). Mr Viswanath is the author of “RANDOM REFLECTIONS: A Kaleidoscopic Musings on Kannada Cinema”.