Winners announced for the 3rd Annual AI Runway Gen:48 Short Film Festival

We need to talk…

Like it or not, the movie industry is on the cusp of a new evolution. AI is no longer a thing that may exist in future, it’s here now and it’s constantly learning, growing and evolving. Yes, this is a topic that is splitting creators and viewers alike as the first-ever feature-length AiMation movie was released this week. I have my review incoming on this movie so keep an eye open for that dropping.

I wanted to take a bit of a deeper look though and see what else AI has to show us and what better place to start than the world’s biggest and fastest-growing AI Short Film Festival.

The AI Runway Gen:48 Short Film Festival has announced the winners of their 3rd Annual fest, spotlighting a new era of filmmaking where human creativity meets cutting-edge artificial intelligence. Gen:48 is a unique festival that challenges filmmakers to create an original short film, using AI tools to generate sound, visuals, and even performances. The result is an extraordinary blend of human imagination and machine-generated art, producing films that push the boundaries of traditional storytelling. This year’s winning entries showcased a diverse array of genres and themes, with creators leveraging AI to enhance everything from cinematography to character development. As the festival has wrapped and opened its entries for 2025, it’s clear that AI-driven filmmaking is not just a trend, but a burgeoning movement in the film industry.

Let’s take a look at the winners and see how this brave new world is taking shape…

The winner of the GRAND PRIX award was… Beatrice from the trio at Old New Rare, A 1-minute 56-second example of the absolutely stunning visuals that AI can really bring. There is a shot in this focussed purely on a woman’s hand catching snow that evokes such a tonal balance of dread and hope that could be throwaway for some but everything to others. This short is full of those moments which at times help the movie flourish but also show some of the limitations that come with this medium. Overall, Beatrice is a dark insightful short, capped off with a powerful narration that cements this as a project not to be taken lightly and shows off a keen look at where AI is right now.

The Peoples Choice award went to RUPU-KK: the Loop. A short that I honestly thought was one of the most ingenious shorts on show at Gen:48. A movie that plays on the mundane and somewhat depressing setting of the workplace and everything that encompasses. By use of some of the same scenes and the looping nature of the short we really understand the plight of our protagonist. This is a truly hard thing to convey when your actors are built from AI, that’s where the genius or magic of these creators come into play and I have to say they have done a superb job of getting me invested in this world for roughly 2 minutes.

So Much for a Piece of Blue Sky from the Unveil team was quite honestly my least favourite of the shorts. How you would score that would be to look at how I have spoken about the rest so far. Truthfully though this really felt like a short with a boatload of potential that got squandered in search of its unique style. This isn’t a bad thing really because the makers knew what they wanted and, to a degree, I feel it was achieved. I can totally respect the piece for what has accomplished and I understand why it picked up a JURY prize, it just wasn’t one of my top picks.

Another JURY prize winner was Shizukana Koe from John Kelly. An interesting 2-minute 50 short short-style documentary about a missing woman. This one tackled the Speech limitation which was really good to see and, for the most part, did it fairly well. Some really cool shots to please the eyeballs and a nice overarching score, but I think the main takeaway was seeing how we can have these people talk properly while seeming natural. I’m not saying it’s perfect but it does show that if this is what can be done now, then I can’t imagine it will be long till it’s near perfect.

BEST CRAFT would go to Holden Boyles for Honu. If ever there was a perfect winner to go with its award, it would be Honu. This project is simply put “incredible”. now I caveat this with, there is not much of a story being told here in terms of a conventional short film. However, the shots included in this short are amazing. Vibrant bright colours splashed across the screen, detailed subjects to a flawless degree looking how they should and moving like they should. This was one of those shorts that shows you the potential of creations. It’s still way off from being a whole thing but gives a true sense of what great looks like.

Neural Viz picked up BEST SCRIPT for his short Voids. How do you get around the not being able to make the characters talk properly? Give them TVs for heads. This was a really fun little short that is painfully relatable to any husband out there. The use of TVs for heads on this short is kind of inspired and having the words on the screens as they talk is just the cherry. There isn’t a lot wrong with the short either in terms of, it’s very consistent, it’s funny and feels like a completed piece in every way.

The last award we have here is the IMAX selection and this went to the short the brave little hen (or how a fox became a father) from Thomas Frenk and Clifny Alves de Lima. Every Christmas for the last few years I have sat down to watch the new Julia Donaldson animated story. This short reminded me very much of that. A very nice and simple but well-told story. There were a couple of little imperfections here that remind you that you are in fact watching an AI short, but again for how early we are into this new innovation, this was a very strong short and well worth your time.

So there we have it, the 3rd annual Runway Gen:48 short film fest is done. I for one am glad I took the time to check out the shortlisted 30 movies and actually give them a fair shake. AI isn’t coming… it’s already here and creators are figuring out the best way to add it to their toolbox. This group of shorts I have given some time to today, are definitely worth your interest and time. We are only scratching the surface of this AI in the industry conversation but I personally am open to the discussion. The filmmakers of these shorts, in particular, have shown that there are more ways to unleash their creativity onto the world and found that with this new tech comes limitations, so they have to get even more creative to figure out a workaround. That is what filmmaking is in a nutshell. Right???

Congratulations to everyone mentioned here, right now you are some of the best and brightest In this field.

I don’t know what my stance is on AI in the industry right now but I’m excited to watch its evolution as creators use it to flex those muscles.