Artificial intelligence emerged as a powerful creative partner rather than a replacement for human imagination at the 19th Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) 2026, where a special section dedicated to AI-generated films drew attention for its innovative storytelling and artistic experimentation.
The “AI Films” category featured works from filmmakers across the world who used artificial intelligence to explore themes ranging from history and mythology to memory, creativity and cinema itself.
Festival organisers said the films demonstrated how AI can help creators bring complex narratives to life in ways that would be difficult through conventional filmmaking techniques.
Among the highlights was Legends – The Eternal Flame of Mewar, directed by Deepak Vijay, which traces the history of Mewar through the voice of a wandering bard, covering eras from Bappa Rawal to Maharana Pratap and celebrating the kingdom’s legacy of courage and honour.
Another notable entry, The Screenwriter by Laurent Cliquet, offered an intimate look into the mind of a writer, exploring the pressures and psychological challenges of the creative process.
Xuan Li’s The Star Shepherd, inspired by a UNICEF visit to Malawi, used felt-animation techniques to tell a moving story about human connection and compassion. Mythological drama Kishkindha: Van Katha, directed by Aksht Verma, drew on various Puranic sources to recreate the politics, conflicts and journeys of the ancient Vanara kingdom.
Talya Lotan’s Stonewall, The Making of blended interviews and behind-the-scenes footage to chronicle the making of an unfinished film about a Civil War general, blurring the boundaries between documentary and fiction.
Other films in the section included Karsh Jhaveri’s The Act of Killing Dreams, which explored the clash between traditional artistic values and emerging AI-driven creativity, and German filmmaker Mark Wachholz’s The Cinema That Never Was, a reflection on lost film histories recreated through generative technology.
Indian entries The Echo Monastery by Rajesh Bhatia and Bharat Arora and The Legend of Birsa Munda by Samresh Shrivastav also attracted attention. While the former follows a grieving woman in Ladakh confronting memory and loss, the latter revisits tribal leader Birsa Munda’s resistance against colonial rule through AI-assisted animation.
Festival organisers said the collection offered audiences a glimpse into the evolving future of filmmaking, showing how emerging technologies can be used to tell deeply human stories while expanding the creative possibilities available to filmmakers.
