The best AI short films: award winners
Which AI short films are worth watching? Juries have already picked. A lot of the strongest AI short films are being made in China, shown on Chinese platforms and judged in Chinese contests. Most have no English title, no English subtitles and little reach outside China. This is a running list of the ones that have won awards: 28 films so far, with who made each one and where to watch it.
English titles are our translations unless the maker uses one. Links go to each maker's own upload on Bilibili, where the films play in Chinese. We add an event when its results are published and we can point to a source.
"X Hours Later" AI short film hackathon, Pingyao
Sep 30, 2026 · Pingyao International Film Festival, China
A 36-hour AI filmmaking hackathon started by the Chinese AI video platform LibTV and held as part of the tenth Pingyao International Film Festival, with Douyin's AI creation programme as co-host and Seedance as the technology partner. 2,158 people applied; 40 teams and 132 creators took part and screened 230 minutes of film. The theme was "Before Arrival". The director Jia Zhangke was a guest of the jury. The gold prize of 200,000 yuan went to the team 野也也; silver was 100,000 yuan and bronze 50,000.
Sources: Sina Finance (in Chinese)
Reply AI Film Festival 2026
Sep 6, 2026 · Venice, Italy
An international competition for AI-made shorts, held alongside the Venice Film Festival. More than 3,100 films from 76 countries; ten finalists, four of them from China. The jury was chaired by the Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores. The top prize went to a Canadian film; the Chinese winners are below.
Winners from China
| Film | By | Watch |
|---|---|---|
| Website 网站Reply AI Studios Grand Prix, and the Community Award voted by the public | Jiaze Li (DiDi_OK) | How it was made |
| Centenarian Kindergarten 百岁幼儿园AI for Good Award, and third place overall | 2xLabs | Bilibili |
Sources: Reply AI Film Festival · China News Service
Bilibili First AI Creation Contest
Mar 31, 2026 · Online, on Bilibili
The first AI film contest run by Bilibili, China's largest video site for younger viewers. More than 8,300 entries between January and March 2026, a prize pool of over 3 million yuan, and 77 awards across two tracks: an open track, and a track for stories set in the world of The Three-Body Problem. Entries passed 700 million views on the site, and 143 of them passed a million each. The judging rule was "story first, technology in service of the story".
The Sign, the first-prize film, playing from the maker's own upload on Bilibili (in Chinese).
Open track: first prize
| Film | By | Watch |
|---|---|---|
| The Sign 牌子1 million yuan. Passed 10 million views in a week. | DiDi_OK | BilibiliHow it was made |
Open track: second prize
| Film | By | Watch |
|---|---|---|
| One in Several Billion 几十亿分之一 | 拓星研究所 | Bilibili |
| Marriage, Valid Until 婚姻有效期 | 假想核儿 | Bilibili |
| Longwang Temple 龙望寺 | 果棟guodong | Bilibili |
| The Night Watchman and the Lullaby 守夜人与摇篮曲 | 疯四娘 | Bilibili |
| Bait 饵 | 粉墨 | Bilibili |
Open track: third prize
| Film | By | Watch |
|---|---|---|
| The Person Stuck at Version 1.0 停留在版本1.0的人 | 爱吃三丝莴笋的美甲师 | Bilibili |
| The Death of Nüwa 女娲之死 | 叫兽易小星 (the director Yi Xiaoxing) | Bilibili |
| Who Is Chi Qingming? 池清明到底是谁 | 杰克十七号 | Bilibili |
| The Invisible Embrace 看不见的拥抱 | 老F和小爱 | Bilibili |
| IVORY | 乱来羊 | Bilibili |
| Love in the Time of Gender Segregation 性别隔离期的爱情 | 冒牌行星 | Bilibili |
| Leave from Heaven to See You Married 天堂请假陪你出嫁 | 柔树特效 | Bilibili |
| The Chair 椅子 | 一条鲜嫩的咸鱼 | Bilibili |
| Centenarian Kindergarten 百岁幼儿园Later won the AI for Good Award in Venice. | 2xLabs | Bilibili |
| The Mystery of the Moa 恐鸟之谜 | BLUHAUS | Bilibili |
| Almost Done 马上好 | Keanu98 | Bilibili |
| She Will Keep Wandering 她将继续流浪 | Strvr超人王 | Bilibili |
Three-Body track: first prize
| Film | By | Watch |
|---|---|---|
| Project Ink Drop 墨滴计划 | 半吊子Bill_ | Bilibili |
Three-Body track: second prize
| Film | By | Watch |
|---|---|---|
| Dual-Vector Foil: Project Fuse 二向箔：引线计划 | 帧域AI | Bilibili |
| 187J3X1: The Alien Curse 187J3X1-异星诅咒 | 永清馍术师 | Bilibili |
Three-Body track: third prize
| Film | By | Watch |
|---|---|---|
| 1.2.3 Body 1.2.3体 | 不科学Studio | Bilibili |
| Two Coins 两枚硬币 | 歌者诗云 | Bilibili |
| To Hell with the Dual-Vector Foil! 去你的！二向箔！ | 桃七点 | Bilibili |
| Deterrence Spark: Wallfacer Zero 威慑火种：第零号面壁者 | 小步流星_ | Bilibili |
| The King's New Painter 国王的新画师 | 一桶的先锋派 | Bilibili |
| Going 2D 去二维 | lambda狗 | Bilibili |
Another 50 films received finalist awards: 32 in the open track and 18 in the Three-Body track.
Sources: Bilibili First AI Creation Competition (Baidu Baike, English) · Winners as announced at the award ceremony, with links (in Chinese)
If one of these is yours
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