Reply AI Film Festival

Why it matters

Reply’s competition gives AI-made shorts a red-carpet moment during Venice festival week, judged by a jury led by Oscar winner Gabriele Salvatores. It is not an official Venice Film Festival section, but in 2026 its premiere was listed in the Venice Production Bridge programme for the first time. Its terms are unusually explicit about evaluation (AI impact, creativity and craftsmanship) and require a written account of how AI was used.

Editions

The 2026 edition, the third, drew more than 3,000 entries according to Reply. A panel chose ten finalists, announced on July 28, and the jury chose the podium, announced on the Lido on September 6. A Face Only a Mother Could Love won. Jiaze Li’s Website took both the Reply AI Studios Grand Prix and the WeShort Community Award. Le Drip placed second, and 2xLabs’ Centenarian Kindergarten third, also taking ITU’s AI for Good Award.

In 2025, Jacopo Reale’s Love at First Sight, a film first released by Kling as a commissioned launch piece, won. Reale later joined Reply’s own Labyrinth Reply and sat on the 2026 jury. Reply’s pages give conflicting second and third places for that year, so only the winner is recorded. No 2027 call has been announced.