The 1 Billion Followers Summit, organized by the UAE Government Media Office, has revealed a shortlist of the top 12 films for the world's largest award for AI-generated films, with a prize of $1 million. The award is organized in collaboration with Google Gemini.
A specialized committee, comprising experts, consultants, and global content creators, selected these 12 films from 3500 submissions. Public voting will take place via a link from December 21 to 25. The judging panel included Dan Germain, Executive Creative Director at Google's London studio; Ali Ali, film director and co-founder of Good People; Christian Haas, Executive Creative Director at YouTube; Piotr Dabkowski, Co-Founder and Technical Director at Elfs Labs; and Marina Mogilko, known as "the girl from Silicon Valley," an entrepreneur, content creator, and podcast host with over 18 million followers.
A panel of 40 experts reviewed 400 hours of film to create the initial longlist. After the public vote, the judging panel will select the top five films to be screened on January 10 during the fourth 1 Billion Followers Summit in the UAE. The grand prize winner will be announced on January 11. The summit announced that over 30,000 people from 116 countries have shown interest in the award, reflecting the significant global engagement with this leading prize, which aims to support and encourage the production of meaningful content films using AI tools and enhance the creative capabilities of content creators.
"We are delighted to collaborate with the 1 Billion Followers Summit to soon announce the winner of the world's largest award for AI-generated films, using Google Gemini models and tools," said Anthony Nkaš, Google's Managing Director for the Middle East and North Africa. "The participating films from 116 countries show how content creators worldwide are eager to translate their creative ideas and convey their social messages using AI technology. This award is a genuine platform for discovering content and short film creator talents, regardless of their background or prior experience. We look forward to celebrating with the winners soon."
Alia Al Hammadi, Deputy Director of the UAE Government Media Office and Director of the 1 Billion Followers Summit, confirmed that the significant interest in the award highlights the summit's importance in advancing the digital content industry and fostering creativity across its media and formats.
The 12 films selected for public voting revolve around two main themes: "Rewriting the Future," which explores its positive aspects through stories, and "The Secret Life of Everything," which tells narratives about things we haven't seen yet.
Films nominated for "Rewriting the Future" are: "Hill" (dir. Mohamed Juma Razeq, Egypt), "Cats Like Warmth" (dir. Lee So Yul, South Korea), "Homeward" (dir. Nav Lotay, UK), "Roots of Tomorrow" (dir. Daniel Tietz, Germany), "Maestra" (dir. Ilario Abad, Spain), and "Dreams Don't Die."
Films nominated for "The Secret Life of Everything" are: "The Translator" (dir. Philip Lee, USA), "Portrait No. 72" (dir. Rodson Fer Suarez, Philippines), "Ceremony" (dir. Marc Faholtz, Germany), "The Picking" (dir. Ibrahim Diab, Jordan), "Lily" (dir. Zoubeir Jalasi, Tunisia), and "Purse of Pearl" (dir. Zahir Khan, Canada). The latter tells the story of a young pearl diver from Dubai who survives a drowning thanks to a surreal, glowing encounter in the depths of the sea, an experience that stays with him for life after losing his father in a storm.
The selected films reflect the award's high standards in clear storytelling, visual aesthetics, skillful integration of AI technology, artistic innovation, and a commitment to transparency and ethics. The participating films underwent a comprehensive evaluation by the jury to ensure they met the award's criteria, from which 100 films were selected, and works that did not meet the standards were disqualified. The shortlisted films also underwent advanced technical vetting via Google Gemini, including AI model verification to confirm that the film was produced using a minimum of 70% of Google's generative AI tools.
