Film festival showcases what AI can do on the big screen

Artificial intelligence‘s use in movie-making is exploding.And a young film festival, now in its junior year, is showcasing what this technology can do on screen today.The annual AI Film Festival, organized by Runway, a company that specializes in AI-generated video, kicked off in New York Thursday night with ten short films from around the world making their debut on the big screen.“Three years ago, this was such a crazy idea,” Runway CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela told the crowd.

“Today, millions of people are making billions of videos using tools we only dreamed of.”The film festival itself has grown significantly since its 2023 debut.About 300 people submitted films when it first began, Valenzuela said, compared to about 6,000 submissions received this year.The one-and-a-half-hour lineup stretched across a range of creative styles and ambitious themes, with Jacob Alder’s “ Total Pixel Space ” taking home the festival’s top prize.

The 9-minute and 28-second film questions how many possible images — real or not — exist in the digital space, and uses math to calculate a colossal number.A stunning series of images, ranging from the familiar life moments to those that completely bend reality, gives viewers a glimpse of what’s out there.Meanwhile, Andrew Salter’s “Jailbird,” which snagged second place, chronicles a chicken’s journey — from the bird’s perspective — to a human prison in the United Kingdom to take part in a joint-rehabilitation program.

And “One,” a futuristic story by Ricardo Villavicencio and Edward Saatchi about interplanetary travel, followed in third place.The 10 films shown were finalists selected from thousands submitted to Runway’s AI Film Festival this year.The shorts will also be shown at screenings held in Los Angeles and Paris next week.How AI is used and executed is a factor judges evaluate when determining festival winners.

But not every film entered was made entirely using AI.While submission...