The Ukraine War, life without sight and an imaginary world where births have ceased are among the subjects of the ten films competing in the third edition of the Reply AI Film Festival which returns to the Venice Film Festival in September for its award ceremony.
The finalists, which were unveiled on Tuesday, have been selected from 3,000 short films experimenting made with AI technologies and tools and submitted in response to the competition’s 2026 theme of “Imaginatio Nova”. (scroll down for full list).
Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores (Mediterraneo) presides over the jury also featuring filmmakers Rob Minkoff (The Lion King) and Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) as well as Jed Weintrob, director and partner at creative studio 30 Ninjas alongside Doug Liman and Julina Tatlock; VFX Supervisor Giacomo Mineo (Oppenheimer, The Odyssey); former DreamWorks Animation and Netflix technology focused producer Christina Lee Storm and producer Nils Hartmann (Gomorrah, The Young Pope).
Further members include journalists Brian Welk and Denise Negri, Reply Chief Technology Officer Filippo Rizzante and Guillem Martinez Roura, AI & Robotics Lead on the “AI for Good” initiative of the United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and Jacopo Reale, who won the 2025 Reply prize for Love at First Sight.
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Alongside the award for Best Short Film, the jury will present two special awards: the AI for Good Award for the short film that most effectively interprets the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Reply AI Studios Grand Prix for the project demonstrating the highest levels of innovation and excellence in the use of artificial intelligence throughout the creative process.
The winners will be announced on September 6 on the fringes of the Venice Film Festival, which this year is showcasing its first ever AI-made feature in Official Selection, Francesco Carrozzini’s documentary Be Brave about the founder of the Diesel fashion label Renzo Rosso.
The 2026 Reply AI Finalists
A Face Only A Mother Could Love
Creator: Robert Gaudette, AI filmmaker and director (Canada)
AI tools & technology: Grok, Nano Banana and Seedance
A solitary Parisian dancer convinced of his own beauty is approached by a woman who has secretly watched him for years
Centenarian Kindergarten
Creators: 2xLabs, a creative studio and collective of visual artists (China)
AI tools & technology: Nano Banana Pro and Jimeng SeedAce 2
In a dystopian future set in 2090, where births have ceased, four centenarians escape from a sterile facility in which AI assistants enforce compulsory happiness, in an attempt to reclaim their human imperfections.
GO HOME
Creator: Simone Paradiso, AI filmmaker and director (Italy)
AI tools and technology: Higgsfield Soul Cinema, GPT Image 2.0 and Seedance 2.0,
In New York in 1999, four teenagers discover a hidden military bunker, setting off on a science-fiction adventure involving mystery, fear and an enigmatic connection with a solitary girl in the group.
Kev
Creator: Mike Bennion, director (UK)
AI tools and technology: Midjourney, Nano Banana, Kling, Veo 3 and ElevenLabs
An intimate exploration of Kev’s personal experience of blindness, highlighting the people, relationships and aspects of everyday life that matter most to him.
Le Drip
Creators: Alex Naghavi and Ezra Li, visual artists and directors (Australia and U.S.)
AI tools and technology: Nano Banana, Claude, Seedance and Runway
The last day on Earth depicted through living oil paintings animated by dense, textured brushstrokes in motion, exploring human emotion.
Little Mes
Creators: Salad Collective, a creative studio and collective of directors (Spain)
AI tools and technology: Kling, Veo 3.1, Seedance and Suno
An inner monologue contemplating the many parallel and possible lives of a character, all coexisting at the same moment, exploring the tension between the life actually lived and the paths left open.
Once Upon a Time on the Dnieper River
Creator: Yi Wang, director (China)
AI tools and technology: Nano Banana, Dreamina, Vidu
Against the backdrop of the Russian-Ukrainian front, a soldier stranded on the banks of the Dnieper River is entrusted with a particularly sensitive and dangerous mission. Using
Passenger
Creator: Yuanbo Song, AI filmmaker and director (China)
AI tools and technology:
Mira, a tsunami survivor, restores her parents’ sculptures, but a mysterious intruder destroys them shortly before a devastating earthquake. Only later does she discover that he was actually trying to save her.
The Child of the Sea
Creator: Ibai Abad, stop-motion artist and director (Spain)
AI tools and technology: Magnific
A fish-boy embarks on a journey across 17th-century Spain to reunite with his mother, facing ridicule and fear in a tale exploring themes of diversity, belonging and acceptance.
Website
Creator: Jiaze Li, interactive media artist and director (China)
AI tools and technology: Veo 3, Runway, Kling and Seedance 2
A speculative science-fiction film exploring a platform capable of broadcasting impossible events from other worlds, where the very act of observation actively alters reality and influences culture.
