On January 10 and 11, San Jose hosted the debut of the Silicon Valley AI Film Festival (SVAIFF), an event billed as a “fusion of artificial intelligence, cinema and creative technology.”
Presented by event-planning firm Star Alliance Company Inc., the two-day festival featured a mix of panel discussions, exhibitions, live showcases, and screenings focused on the growing role of AI across creative industries.
Much of the programming examined how artificial intelligence is reshaping filmmaking—both creatively and commercially. Jonathan Yunger, a festival partner and founder of AI Studio Arcana Labs, screened several AI-generated trailers, including “Revolutionary,” an upcoming AI-produced docuseries centered on George Washington, and “Cosmic,” a project by former Epic Games art director Chris Perna.
Yunger framed AI as a means of expanding access to an industry long defined by exclusivity. “The barrier to entry in Hollywood is very difficult. Actual creativity is difficult … And I think [about] AI tools, and real creativity, artists in mind, that starts with humans first,” he told the Stanford Daily.
Questions of labor, economics, and authorship surfaced repeatedly throughout the festival. Cynthia Jiang, a co-founder of SVAIFF and a partner at the law firm East & Partners, spoke about the increasing normalization of AI tools across the production pipeline.
“Especially with production companies, there’s a significant number that are using AI post-production. Or even developing the concept with AI from the start,” Jiang told The Daily in Mandarin. She pointed to the financial advantages of AI models over outsourced human labor and noted that major studios are steadily integrating AI into their workflows.
Jiang also referenced recent labor disputes in the industry, arguing that they have had little effect on technological momentum. “We all know about the 2023 actor and actresses strike in Hollywood. But these strikes did nothing to influence the development of AI. Absolutely nothing,” she said.
At the same time, she acknowledged ongoing skepticism, particularly among more traditional producers. “Especially with older producers — we have a few clients [like that] from Beijing — they’re very conservative about using AI. They continue to think that AI can’t replicate the very real, human style of actors and actresses,” Jiang said.
That tension was echoed by Olivia Doman, who highlighted the distinction between AI-driven and human-led creative processes. “When you are making an AI film, you are continuously promoting a model until you achieve the desired result,” she said. “[With] human film making … there is so much more thought and effort that is required, and I believe that time can be seen in the results.”
Still, Doman, who has worked on the technology and innovation side of cinema at Rodeo FX, recognized practical advantages to AI, describing the tools as “fiscally efficient for previsualization and ideation stages.”
Despite its title, traditional film screenings made up only a portion of the festival’s programming. Panels, keynote talks, and even runway-style fashion shows filled much of the schedule. Several shows featured both human and automated performers, including Unitree Robotics’ G1 humanoid robot. Human models often appeared styled as futuristic androids, dressed in sleek silhouettes accented with metallic blues, blacks, and silvers.
SVAIFF also drew participation from public officials, including Fiona Ma, California’s state treasurer.
“I think this film festival is opening up a lot of opportunities for new filmmakers, creatives, [and] artists who didn’t necessarily have the pedigree or the training to move up the ladder in Hollywood,” Ma said.
The festival concluded by announcing winners from its AI-generated film competition, which received more than 2,000 submissions, according to festival media representative Tianye Song. The Grand Prix Award went to Wenqing Shanguan for “White Night Lake,” a story about a boy whose kite is possessed by the spirit of its lonely and vengeful former owner. “A Tree’s Imagination,” directed by self-described AI co-creator Wenye Bot, won Best Animated Short.
Beyond awards, SVAIFF hosted the global premiere of “The Wolves,” a feature-length film by director Bing He. Set in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, the film follows a violent pursuit as police officers and vigilantes track child traffickers across the region.
“I’ve already [published] a dozen long-feature fictions, all published in China,” He said. “But none of my fiction has been brought to TV and film.” He described generative AI as a new path toward adapting his work for the screen—while drawing a firm boundary around its use.
“As a writer, it’s a problem for me because I found such [chatbots] as DeepSeek or ChatGPT — their abilities of writing are very, very good,” he said. “But for me, I never use this model to write scripts or even sentences of my fiction. Because, if I use this, I will lose my ability [to write]. I will lose my soul.”
