OpenAI’s Critterz to Get Feature Film. Vertigo Films and Native Foreign, which enabled OpenAI consultant and creative director Chad Nelson to bring the Critterz to life three years ago, are teaming up to do a feature film. In the original 2023 short, the ‘Critterz’ of the title disrupt a stuffy nature documentary narrator, Dennis, David Attenborough’s sound-alike neighbor. Writers James Lamont and Jon Foster, two- thirds of the writing team that created the animated children’s film “Paddington in Peru,” are collaborating on the script. The “Critterz” movie is set in a world where AI-generated creatures coexist with humans, exploring themes of technology and identity.
“A Love Letter to Los Angeles” is a collaboration with music artist Cuco, director Paul Trillo, and Asteria Studios. This is a breakdown of the production of a new AI-animated psychedelic love letter to Los Angeles that reimagines the city not just as a physical place but as an emotional landscape shaped by memory, nostalgia, and reinvention. A team of over 20 people from around the world, including lead artist Paul Flores, 2D animators, 3D generalists, AI animators and VFX artists, worked together to re-create the 90s animation style.
AI-driven production company, Staircase Studios, announced the production of a slate of low budget feature films to be “filmed” with AI, using human actors for voice and reference. The company’s debut feature, The Woman with Red Hair, tells true story of Johanna “Hannie” Schaft, a young woman who dropped out of college to join the Dutch Resistance during WWII.
Gennie Studio creates historical recreations for the non-fiction market using Cinematic AI. Max Einhorn, one of many filmmakers and industry executives who have formed AI production companies, has a unique niche in a developing market. Instead of the usual promises of ‘garage Star Wars,’ Einhorn’s company, Gennie, has a more modest goal: time travel, which previously required an army of artistic talent and technicians to create.
The Austin AI Film Festival Debuts March 14-15, 2025. The inaugural festival features narrative films crafted using AI tools, empowering creators to tell diverse, personal and often experimental stories across genres. Thanks to Generative AI tools, filmmakers don’t need the resources of a studio to create cinematic stories. AAIFF will host panels and networking events featuring leading figures in AI and filmmaking, serving as a hub for developers and creators shaping the future of storytelling. The Austin AI Film Festival (AAIFF) will be held at the AT&T Hotel and Conference Center, 1.5 miles from SXSW HQ at the Convention Center.
