LONDON, 21 October 2026. Big Screen Hack London 2026 ended on Friday 16 October with its shortlist on the biggest screen in London and one filmmaker leaving with a series deal. More than 380 people filled the Science Museum IMAX during BFI London Film Festival week, with a queue down Exhibition Road before the doors opened. It was the first time an AI film hackathon has premiered in an IMAX cinema in the UK or Europe, and the first film festival the cinema has hosted.
The Greenlight, the main award, went to Not Your Puppet by Pablo Fernandez Eyre, scored top by a jury of 30 that included Emmy and BAFTA winners and the people behind the visual effects of Blade Runner 2049 and Dune. The judges' award was decided on their scores alone. The film is at youtu.be/y5QIFkjHvVI, and the judges' scorecards and comments are at bigscreenhack.com/winners.
“A brilliantly edited and directed realisation of a superbly simple idea. Funny, imaginative and absolutely stuffed with fast-moving, entertaining content. The world it builds is distinctive and offers endless possibilities for storylines.”
Richard Nash, co-founder, Shaggy Dog AI, from his scorecard
“The author understood the assignment. This is what I imagine a cool concept with series would look like.”
Narek Hayrapetyan, Head of Video Products, Picsart, from his scorecard
What happens to the winner now
Not Your Puppet now goes into development as a funded series with Fairground, the streaming platform, and StoryMachine, on a 50/50 revenue share. Pablo arrived with a pilot and leaves with a development budget, a platform and a share of what the series earns.
“Friday night was the whole argument for Big Screen Hack in one room: more than 380 people, a full IMAX, and work by people most studios have not met yet. Most competitions end with a trophy. Ours ends with a commission, and Pablo's series will be on Fairground earning money for him while other people are still waiting to hear back from a commissioner.”
Aaron Jones BEM, founder, Big Screen Hack
The Public Greenlight
The audience has its own award. The Public Greenlight is separate from the judges' result, and anyone can watch the shortlist and back their favourite until 9am on Monday 26 October at bigscreenhack.com/vote.
The other winners
Every winner and finalist, with the judges' scorecards, is at bigscreenhack.com/winners. The winning films are on the Big Screen Hack YouTube channel at youtube.com/@bigscreenhack.
The numbers
More than 450 filmmakers, AI developers and creators signed up for London 2026, 72 of them taking part in London and the rest online, and between them they entered more than 110 TV pilots and adverts made with AI tools. The prize and credit pool across the tracks was worth over USD 50,000. Entry was free.
A distribution model, not a prize
Big Screen Hack pairs filmmakers with AI developers. Filmmakers bring the story; developers build the tools to tell it. Each chapter ends with the work screened to a live audience of buyers, brands and press, and the winning concept commissioned into a series.
The plan from here is to make that the standard outcome rather than the exception. Every future chapter will end with a commission on Fairground, so a new filmmaker who can make a pilot with AI tools has a route to a funded series and an audience that did not exist two years ago.
“Distribution is the problem now, not production. There are thousands of people who can make a good pilot with these tools and almost nowhere for it to go, so it sits on a hard drive. We want Big Screen Hack to be the place where it goes instead: make it, screen it to a full cinema, and if it is the best in the room, somebody funds the series. That is the pathway we are building, chapter by chapter.”
Aaron Jones BEM, founder, Big Screen Hack
It has already worked once. Muhammed Jabir came to the UK from Malayalam cinema and could not get a job in the industry. Working alone, he made Lilies at Big Screen Hack. It won Best in Show, screened at Cinéum Cannes during the Cannes Film Festival, and went on to win the OMNI Golden AI Performance award in Sydney from more than 3,800 entries. He now runs Muja Studios, making ads for clients including Tottenham Hotspur and Tata.
Next: Sundance in January, then Riyadh
The next chapter of Big Screen Hack runs in Boulder, Colorado, during the Sundance Film Festival in January 2027, the festival's first year in its new home. After that comes Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in April 2027, which Big Screen Hack is building to be the world's biggest creative hackathon: filmmakers and AI developers from across the region and beyond, a week of making, a premiere and a commission. Dates, venues and partners will be announced in the coming weeks.
For press and broadcast
Interviews with Aaron Jones BEM, Greenlight winner Pablo Fernandez Eyre, past winner Muhammed Jabir and selected judges can be booked at calendar.app.google/RAoi7EbpF4TLdNd57. Photography from the IMAX premiere, the winning films and posters are free to use with credit to Big Screen Hack at the press folder. Some of the photographs are phone shots from guests; the full set from the night's photographers and videographers follows this week.
