The Austin AI Film Festival has published the films and speakers for its second year, which runs 16 and 17 October at The Topfer at Zach Theater. In its own announcement the nonprofit calls itself the biggest independent AI film festival in the country and the only one in Texas.
Organisers say 40 films were chosen from more than 700 entries, across eleven categories that run from features and shorts to music videos, documentaries, trailers, brand films, hybrid live-action work and student films. Judges include filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg, production designer Rick Carter and Jon Flynn, who heads Fox's FoxNXT unit.
Speakers are mostly founders of AI studios, among them Jason Zada of Secret Level and Adrienne Lahens of Infinite Studios. Founder Aaron Sanchez said the point is a physical place where audiences can meet the people behind the films and see how they were made.
The first day, 16 October, is a summit of talks and masterclasses in which directors such as Henry Daubrez, Nik Kleverov and Joni Dobrov walk through how a project was made, with panels on brand work and hybrid films. The second day screens the selection and ends with the awards.
Before that, a free online 48-hour hackathon on 8 to 10 October, run with Machine Cinema and AITX, feeds its winning films into the screenings. It lands as Texas begins handing out money from a $1.5 billion, ten-year film incentive.
Sources · 1