The judges.

Mateo Willis

Director and founder of Wise Media

Mateo Willis is one of the UK's leading directors working in AI filmmaking and the founder of Wise Media, his London company for AI-hybrid films and commercials. He weaves live action, VFX and AI-generated imagery together seamlessly, and is represented by WME, Dench Arnold and The Visionaries.

He has made AI films and commercials for broadcasters and production companies in the UK, and for agencies and brands in the United States and Canada, including BetMGM and the NFL. Before AI he worked for the BBC, Netflix, Apple TV+, Discovery and National Geographic: as a cinematographer on Planet Earth II, Blue Planet II, Frozen Planet and Our Planet, as a director on Netflix's Night on Earth, and as executive producer of Apple TV+'s Omnivore.

He has worked in film and television for almost 20 years, across natural history and factual television, streaming documentaries, commercials, music videos and AI production.

He shared Primetime Emmys for cinematography on Frozen Planet in 2012 and Planet Earth II in 2017, and was part of the BAFTA-winning Frozen Planet camera team.

Roxanne Ducharme

AI Film Director and AI Creative Director

Roxanne Ducharme, also known as TrashCanRoxanne, is a French-Canadian AI filmmaker, director and artist based in Panama. She is AI Creative Director at AI Visionaries, the AI studio of Montreal's Pascal Blais Animation, and is represented as an AI director for commercial work by AiCandy and Stimulus Productions.

She was part of the team behind the Daytime Emmy®-winning animated series Arthur, and her earlier credits include An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, produced by Steven Spielberg; the Oscar- and BAFTA-nominated British short The Village; and illustration for documentary series for National Geographic, Discovery Channel and the Science Channel.

With four decades of professional experience in animation and visual storytelling, and a university degree in cinema, her career spans film, television, documentary, video games, design, advertising and generative AI filmmaking.

Since moving fully into AI filmmaking in early 2023, her films have screened and won awards at festivals worldwide, including first prizes at the Seattle AI Film Festival and AI Film Festival Seoul. She is a creative partner of Runway, MiniMax, Freepik and CapCut, and in 2026 was named one of Leonardo.Ai's Top 50 Women AI Filmmakers, a list featured in Forbes Australia.

Tom Kinnersly

Emmy Award-winning editor and AI filmmaker

Tom Kinnersly is an Emmy Award-winning editor and AI filmmaker. He is Campaigns Content Manager at UCL (University College London) and a member of Dreamina's Creative Partner Program, and sees professional editing as the vital part of AI filmmaking teams that it has always been in live-action film.

He has edited for CNN's Amanpour, the BBC, HBO, Disney+, Sky, ITV, Working Title and Discovery, where he was a senior video editor for 11 years. His drama and feature film credits include United 93, Bloody Sunday, The Lost Prince, Capturing Mary and Oliver Twist.

He has worked in film and television for 30 years, since 1996, across feature film, TV drama, documentary, news, education and advertising, and has worked with generative AI video tools since 2024.

He won a News and Documentary Emmy in 2025 as one of the editors of Amanpour's interview with Jake Larson, as well as a BETT Award, a Discovery Stellar Award and an editing award at the Underwire festival.

Jordan Bayne

Filmmaker, founder of The Squad and co-founder of enGEN3

Jordan Bayne is a filmmaker, actor and entrepreneur working where AI, Web3 and entertainment meet. She is founder and CEO of The Squad, a Web3 and AI film studio and creative collective, co-founder and CEO of enGEN3, an AI platform for building cinematic universes with fans, and Head of GenAI and Web3 at the entertainment finance company Goldfinch.

She created the Film3 brand, co-founded the Film3 Summit, launched the MetaCannes Film3 Festival alongside Cannes in 2023 and hosts the Film3 OG podcast. As an actor she appeared in Law & Order, Poltergeist: The Legacy and A Stranger in the Kingdom. She wrote, directed and produced the short The Sea Is All I Know, starring Melissa Leo.

She has worked in film and television for 30 years, across acting, independent film, Web3 entertainment and generative AI filmmaking.

The Sea Is All I Know was in consideration for an Academy Award in 2012, won Best Short Film at the Cincinnati Film Festival and was a Vimeo Staff Pick. Her directing debut, Argo, won Best Director and Best Short Film at the Independent Film Festival of North Texas.

Billie Houston

AI filmmaker, Creative Director and founder of Girl in the Machine

Billie Houston is a London-based AI filmmaker, video producer, creative director and visual artist, and the founder of Girl in the Machine, her own AI film and story world. Her signature style blends cyberpunk aesthetics, 1990s retro textures, liminal spaces and the surreal.

She produces generative AI films and content for global agencies and household brands in beauty, health and wellness and emerging technology. She is a creative partner of Dreamina, OpenArt, CapCut and ipvise, and works with Luma AI on developing Girl in the Machine.

She has worked in video for seven years, moving from editing into producing AI films and content, after studying computer animation at London Metropolitan University and art and media at the BRIT School.

Her film Sacred Change, made with Mama Graves, was one of six winners of the Fully Focused and CapCut Gen AI Film Bootcamp in 2026, and Girl in the Machine: Future Calling won Bronze in the ipvise film competition. Her music video Being Together was nominated for Best Music Video at the Los Angeles AI Motion Picture Awards.

David Sheldon-Hicks

Co-founder of Territory Studio and Group CEO of Territory Group

David Sheldon-Hicks is co-founder of Territory Studio, the design, motion and visual effects studio he started in London in 2010 with Nick Glover and Lee Fasciani, and Group CEO of Territory Group, formed in 2022 when Territory acquired Cantina Creative.

Before Territory he worked at Fold7, AKQA and Why Not Associates, and created screen graphics for Casino Royale and The Dark Knight. Territory's film work for the major studios includes Prometheus, Guardians of the Galaxy, Ex Machina, The Martian, Blade Runner 2049, Avengers: Endgame, No Time to Die, Dune and Dune: Part Two, alongside Starfield for Bethesda and work for Formula 1, Virgin Atlantic and Jaguar Land Rover.

He has worked in design and visual effects for more than 20 years, across feature film, advertising, games and live experiences, and sits on the advisory board of the National Film and Television School.

Territory has won Motion Awards for Atlas, Swan Song, Jurassic World Dominion and Starfield, as well as a Clio and an IVCA Gold, and Blade Runner 2049 earned it a Beazley Designs of the Year nomination. He has judged the ADC Awards.

Claire Higginson

Head of Creative

Claire Higginson is an award-winning creative leader and Head of Creative at the trading platform Capital.com, where she leads creative across film, campaigns and performance marketing. She is looking for films where the tools serve the story and you can feel a human instinct at work.

She was Head of Creative for Fox Networks Group in the Nordics, leading creative for National Geographic and FOX, and before that spent 12 years at the Johannesburg agency Clearwater, rising from promo director to creative director on campaigns for the broadcasters M-Net, DStv, kykNET and Mzansi Magic. In London she ran creative operations at the agency OLIVER, building and leading creative teams for global brands such as Unilever, Reckitt and Adidas.

She has worked in television, advertising and brand creative for more than 20 years, since starting as a video editor in 2004, across documentary-style storytelling, channel launches and rebrands, outdoor campaigns and performance marketing in the UK, Europe and Africa.

She has won two Clio Entertainment Awards for National Geographic and 29 Promax awards, including a Promax World Gold for M-Net's 30th birthday campaign, and has judged Cannes Young Lions, GEMA and more than ten international Promax awards.

Mark Beardall

Head of 2D and VFX Supervisor

Mark Beardall is Head of 2D and VFX Supervisor at Gramercy Park Studios, now part of WPP Production, where he has led visual effects on high-end commercials since 2013. He has championed AI workflows in his commercial work and explores generative AI filmmaking in his own time.

Before that he was a Senior Flame Artist at Framestore, and he has worked at many of London's big post-production houses, including Golden Square and Triangle Post Production, as well as Bloomberg Television. His work includes the Axe Apollo commercial, which he co-directed at Framestore, Channel 4's Alan Carr: Chatty Man promos, and campaigns for Kotex and Pearl & Dean.

He has worked in post-production and visual effects for 30 years, since starting as an Avid editor in 1996, across commercials, broadcast television and film.

He won a D&AD Yellow Pencil in 2010 for the Alan Carr: Chatty Man promos. Kotex's Art's Missing Period, on which he worked on the VFX, won a Gold Lion at Cannes Lions in 2026.

Andrea Sarnataro

Senior Art Director and AI Creative

Andrea Sarnataro is a London-based senior art director and generative AI specialist who directs AI production for advertising, film and visual storytelling. He is a Senior Art Director and AI creative lead at McCann Worldgroup, runs his own studio, This Is AI, and is a creative partner of Magnific, Dreamina, CapCut and Alibaba's HappyHorse AI.

He spent five years as Senior Creative and Art Director at The&Partnership in London and Edinburgh, after art direction roles at The Gate and Revolt. His campaigns have been made for Adidas, Budweiser, NatWest, Mastercard, Virgin, HOKA, Asahi, Aramco, NEOM, Equinor and France TV, through agencies including McCann, Havas and VICE Media.

He has worked in visual industries for 13 years, starting in photography, graphic design and film set design in Rome before moving into advertising in 2017 and generative AI in 2022. He lectures and runs AI workshops, including at Edinburgh Napier University and the UK Creative Festival.

He won a D&AD New Blood Wood Pencil in 2017 and was a junior juror for the Art Directors Club of Europe.

Nina Sabina Caballero

AI artist, curator and Strategic Lead of AI/CC

Nina Sabina Caballero is an AI artist, creative technologist and curator. She leads AI/CC, the Artificial Intelligence Creative Community, a global non-profit of more than 90,000 generative AI artists and filmmakers in 80 countries, which she has helped build since 2022 and has led as Owner and Strategic Lead since 2025.

She is a creative partner of Luma AI, Leonardo.Ai, Dreamina, MiniMax, Pika, Ideogram and Higgsfield, curates Northern and Central Europe for PROMPT Magazine and is lead concept artist on the 2137 AD cinematic universe. Her work has been shown at Berlin Fashion Week and in Monks' book Ahead of the Lens.

Her career spans 30 years, including more than two decades in international sales at the Finnish design house Marimekko, followed by marketing, fine-art painting and photography, and since 2022 AI art and film.

She received a 2025 Global Recognition Award for innovation in AI creativity and an AI Muses Laurel, and has been named among the top 100 AI art creators on LinkedIn.

Ant Hill

Principal Consultant, GenAI and MarTech for the Creative Industries

Antony Hill is Principal Consultant for generative AI and marketing technology in the creative industries at Google Cloud, helping large organisations bring generative AI into their creative and marketing work. He also advises the investment firm Sekhem Capital.

He has spent more than a decade at Google, including four years as Head of Creative Works for the UK and Ireland, where he helped redesign Google's creative services worldwide and represented EMEA on its global creative steering committee. Before Google he held senior account roles at McCann Erickson, AMV BBDO and J Walter Thompson London, where he was Group Business Director and then Head of Account Management.

He has worked in advertising and technology for more than 25 years, across creative agencies, big tech, AI consulting and investment, and holds an Executive Diploma in AI for Business from the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School.

His JWT London team's KitKat and Android partnership won Silver and Bronze Lions at Cannes in 2014, and he has judged the Effie Awards Europe.

Narek Hayrapetyan

Head of Video Product

Narek Hayrapetyan is Head of Video Product at Picsart, the AI media production and distribution platform where creators and businesses make, market and monetise content. He leads Picsart's video products and turns the newest generative video models, including Google's Veo and Alibaba's Wan, into tools that creators use to tell stories.

He joined Picsart in 2013 as one of its first 30 employees. He started as a mobile developer and moved into product, where he led Picsart Labs, ran Picsart Camera and in 2018 set up the company's video team. He is also Managing Partner of theConsultancy Partners in Yerevan.

He has worked in technology for 14 years, across mobile engineering, consumer creative apps, product management and AI video.

Picsart Animator, made by his Picsart Labs team, was named Most Entertaining app in Google Play's Best Apps of 2017. As a judge, he looks for films that use AI with skill, purpose and a clear human voice.

Calum Youngson

Forward Deployed Creative

Calum Youngson is a creative director and filmmaker, and Forward Deployed Creative at Luma AI, where he works directly with brands and agencies on how generative AI can transform creative production: developing AI workflows, building proofs of concept and helping teams turn ideas into production-ready work.

He spent a decade at Bloomberg Media, as EMEA Creative Director and then EMEA Head of Production, leading branded productions for Google, Facebook, BMW Group, Arsenal and national tourism boards. He was then Creative Director at the agency Where Giants Roam, working with Omega, Amazon, Jo Malone, BrewDog and New York City Ballet. Earlier he ran his own motion studio, Youngson Motion, and produced commercials for STV.

He has worked for 20 years across film, television commercials, branded content, motion design, 3D, CGI, VFX and generative AI.

His work has won two Gold Scottish Design Awards, a Telly Award for 3D animation, a Dolphin at the Cannes Corporate Media and TV Awards and a Lovie Award, and has been nominated for a Webby.

Ariel Tang

Director of IPVISE UK

Ariel Tang is Director of IPVISE UK and leads the UK operations of IPVISE, an AI creative platform for making images, video and films with AI agents on one canvas, which also develops original short drama and animation. She champions AI creative education and works to connect the creative education sectors of the UK and Asia.

IPVISE was created by IPmotion Group, the creative technology and marketing group founded in Shanghai in 2012, with a network across Asia, London and the United States. She joined IPVISE as Head of International Business, has spoken at its AI creativity events in London, and presented on turning content into intellectual property at AIMX Singapore in 2026.

She works across AI creative technology, short drama and animation, creative education and international business development, with experience in market expansion across the UK, the Middle East and China. She holds an MBA.

As a judge she brings a sharp eye for commercially viable IP and the hook that makes a micro drama work, helping creators find IP of their own and a way to make money from it.

Danilo Radovic

Agentic Product Lead, Platform Architecture

Danilo Radovic is Agentic Product Lead for Platform Architecture at OpenClips.AI, an AI-powered creative studio for video and image generation. He shapes where the product goes, designs systems that scale and builds agent-driven workflows that change how the product is built and how people use it, turning fast-moving AI into simple, reliable tools for creators and brands.

He has spent his whole career at Coinis, the Montenegro technology company behind OpenClips, rising from front-end developer in 2019 to full-stack developer and then technical lead in 2023. He leads engineering teams across its advertising platform and OpenClips, which launched in 2026 to turn a single product link into a production-ready video advert.

He has worked in software engineering for seven years, across advertising technology, AI video and image generation and creative tools. He holds a degree in computer science from the University of Montenegro, went on to study software engineering at master's level, and is AWS certified.

Isidora Matović

Social Media and Community Lead

Isidora Matović is Social Media and Community Lead at OpenClips.AI, the platform where creators build and share AI video workflows. She shapes how OpenClips sounds and shows up online, from everyday posts to product launches, and grows the OpenClips Creators community, turning creators' work into content that brings new people in.

She joined Coinis, the Montenegro technology company behind OpenClips, as Social Media Manager in 2022 and became its Digital Communications Lead, working across its advertising technology brands and the launch of OpenClips. Before that she worked in marketing at the executive coaching and consulting firm Blue Coach.

She has worked in content and social media for more than five years, across technology, advertising technology, AI video and consulting, running strategy for brands in tech, tourism and sport. She studied political science at the University of Montenegro.

She is especially interested in how AI is changing video creation, and in helping creators use it to make work that stands out.

Richard Nash

Co-founder of Shaggy Dog AI

Richard Nash is a television producer and director, and co-founder of Shaggy Dog AI, the London studio he set up with Emma Talitha Reynolds in 2025 to bring broadcast-level storytelling to generative AI video for TV, film, advertising and social media.

He has made hit shows for Netflix, Apple TV+, HBO, Fox, Discovery, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, ESPN, Sky and every BBC channel. He was senior story producer on Netflix's Stranger Things feature documentary for the Duffer Brothers, and senior producer of Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts.

He has worked in television for 35 years, since joining the BBC's production training scheme in 1991, across factual, entertainment, documentary, reality and sport programmes, and now AI filmmaking.

Return to Hogwarts received two Emmy nominations. His AI short film Letting Go won at the South Coast Film Festival, was nominated in two categories at the MIT Global AI Film Hack and reached the finals of the AI Movie Awards.

Kadine James

Founder and AI Creative Director of Hyper Studios

Kadine James is an AI creative technologist, filmmaker and educator working across artificial intelligence, spatial computing, fashion and immersive storytelling. She is the founder of Hyper Studios and of The Immersive KIND, the AI and extended reality studio she set up in 2018, and a Culture Leader with the World Economic Forum.

She has worked with Epic Games, NVIDIA, Meta, Google, Unilever, Mercedes-Benz, Nike and Bentley, and held innovation roles at Accenture, Yahoo, Verizon and Artificial Rome. She teaches AI at Polimoda, Istituto Marangoni and the Royal College of Art, and her work has been shown from London to Tokyo.

She has worked in creative technology for more than 12 years, across immersive and extended reality, digital fashion, advertising, education and AI filmmaking.

She has been longlisted five times for Computer Weekly's Most Influential Women in UK Tech, lists a Cannes Lions Silver among her awards, and is a Fellow of the RSA and a BAFTA member. She has judged the Webby Awards, D&AD, the Lovies and the Seattle AI Film Festival.

Edmond Yang

AI artist, founder of Yangmedia and co-founder of AIAIAI

Edmond Yang is an award-winning AI artist, creative director and entrepreneur working where filmmaking, visual art and emerging technology meet. Based in Oslo, he founded the design studio Yangmedia in 2001, co-founded the AI film production and training agency AIAIAI in 2024, and directs productions at NERVELAB, the AI motion design studio working across Shanghai, Hong Kong and Norway.

He has made work for Nike, Microsoft, Telenor, SAS, IBM, Helly Hansen, Universal Music and Alan Walker, and is a creative partner of Runway, Luma AI, Pika and Magnific. He led AI production on films including One Last Wish, written by Erlend Loe, and Snikmord, his AI work has reached more than 350 million views, and he teaches at the Norwegian Film School and Berghs.

He has worked in design and visual media for 25 years, across advertising, broadcast graphics, fashion, virtual reality, digital identity and AI film production.

One Last Wish, on which he was AI lead artist, won Gold in the narrative category of Civitai's Project Odyssey, billed as the world's largest AI film competition, and Gold at Norway's Gullhaien awards in 2025. Snikmord, with him as AI lead, won Gullhaien Gold in 2026.

Miriam Pérez

Founder and Creative Director of Aesthetik.ai

Miriam Pérez is a visual and creative director, AI filmmaker and founder of Aesthetik.ai, the independent studio she set up in 2025 to make AI-led films, creative direction and immersive work for cultural institutions, studios and luxury brands.

For ten years she was Head of Photography and Video for London and Europe at Gagosian, directing and producing films on artists including Damien Hirst, Gerhard Richter, Jenny Saville, Richard Serra, Rachel Whiteread, Ed Ruscha and Nan Goldin. Before that she was a picture researcher at Tate Publishing, The Telegraph Magazine, the Wellcome Trust and News Corp.

She has worked in visual culture for more than 25 years, across contemporary art and museums, publishing, film and video production and AI filmmaking. She holds a first-class degree in photography from the University for the Creative Arts.

Her AI film Untitled [A Sediment of Loss] was a finalist at the Kursaal-AI Film Festival in San Sebastián in 2026, and a finalist for Best AI Film at the New York International Film Awards in 2025.

Aaron Bhugobaun

Co-founder and Director of Latent Aurum

Aaron Bhugobaun is co-founder and director of Latent Aurum, a next-generation media studio set up in 2026, and founder of the AI media consultancy Chapter Forge. He is also Director of Creative Strategy for the Global Creative and Security Community, and helps studios modernise and scale production and localisation through practical AI.

Until 2025 he was Technical Production Operations Manager at Moonbug Entertainment, home of CoComelon and Blippi, where he led AI work across production. Before that he spent nine years at Motion Picture Solutions, rising to QC Manager and signing off cinema releases of feature films for Universal, Disney, Marvel and Sony.

He has worked in media for 17 years, starting in sound design in 2009, across post-production, cinema distribution, localisation, children's media and AI. He sits on Wonder Studios' Creative Council and the AI Localisation Think Tank, and advises media start-ups.

He judged the RTS Technology Centre Awards in 2024 and spoke at the United Nations ITU WSIS Forum in 2026.

Mostafa Zabet

AI filmmaker, founder and President of the Global AI Cinema Association

Mostafa Zabet is an AI filmmaker and the founder and president of the Global AI Cinema Association, which is building a worldwide structure for AI cinema through training, certification and festivals, made by filmmakers for filmmakers.

He is an official creative partner of Luma AI, Dreamina, ImagineArt, Magnific and OpenArt, heads AI and VR production at the e-learning company Imaplus, and is an industry partner on AI in education with the University of Oxford's Department of Education. He has taught AI filmmaking to more than 15,000 students through the Iranian AI Academy.

He has worked in technology and education for more than 20 years, starting in 2005, and has made AI short films, music videos and VR work since 2022.

He has served on the juries of the Tehran International Short Film Festival's immersive section, Neuro Masters and the Titan International Film Festival, and his 360-degree film Creation was selected for the Field of View Festival at Texas A&M University.

Arzu Celik

Founder and Creative Director of Azul Creative Mds

Arzu Celik is a London-based creative entrepreneur and strategic creative director working where emerging technology, storytelling and business strategy meet. She is founder and creative director of Azul Creative Mds, the consultancy she set up in 2021 to bring generative AI, augmented reality, game design and branding to its clients.

She has worked with Meta, UNDP, Turkish Airlines and the British Council, led creative strategy on UNDP and EU projects in Turkey, and was creative director at Mat Event and Dorak Holding. She is a mentor for Games London's Game Changer accelerator and has spoken at events including Pocket Gamer Connects.

She has worked for more than 12 years, starting in landscape architecture before moving into creative direction, events, international development, games, branding and AI. She holds an MSc in Computer Animation and Game Technologies with high honours.

Her game Dignity was one of the winners of Global Game Jam 2021's Core Diversifier Challenge, and her AREAILISM framework for AI and augmented reality art has been featured by Google AR & VR, Adobe and Luma AI.

Jessica Pearce

Founder and AI Creative Director of Pearce AI

Jessica Pearce is an AI creative director and consultant, and founder of Pearce AI, the London consultancy she set up in 2026 to make AI-native creative work for brands and to help teams see where AI genuinely improves the creative process, where it falls short, and how it is changing the way brands create and communicate.

Her AI campaigns, content and workshops have been made for brands and organisations including BaByliss, Korn Ferry, National Rail, Bombay Sapphire and Virgin. Before that she worked in film and television, developing and packaging scripted projects for commissioners at Netflix, Amazon and the BBC, and co-founding the production company Harquart Pearce Productions. She was also a creative producer at Dream Bay Entertainment, creating the beauty and fashion channel UnPolished with Rimmel, MAC and ASOS, and began her career in strategy and innovation at Capgemini Invent, working with Unilever, Kingfisher and the NHS.

She has worked for almost ten years across consulting, film and television, digital media and advertising.

She has produced independent films with BFI backing and BAFTA-qualifying short films.