An AI-generated short film was almost played in theaters nationwide this month. Then the internet found out.
The short film is Thanksgiving Day, made by filmmaker Igor Alferov. It won the inaugural Frame Forward AI Animated Film Festival, a contest whose top prize included a national theatrical run. The festival was organized by AI company Modern Uprising Studios.
The short film’s run was set to happen through Screenvision Media, a company that sells pre-show advertising content to major cinema chains, including AMC. So the short wasn’t from a studio or a programmer, but from the company that puts together the content that plays before your trailers start.
Screenvision said as much in a statement this week to The Hollywood Reporter:
“This content is an initiative from Screenvision Media, which manages pre-show advertising for several movie theatre chains in the United States and runs in fewer than 30 percent of AMC’s U.S. locations. AMC was not involved in the creation of the content or the initiative and has informed Screenvision that AMC locations will not participate.”
Social media reactions to the initial announcement were swift and fierce. Commentary from creatives and film fans was just as biting.
After the decision to pull the film, Frame Forward AI Animated Film Festival issued a statement from Modern Uprising Studios president and studio head Joel Roodman:
“Shared theatrical experiences are an important cultural bond. The traditional theatrical chains are vital to our cohesion as a society, and are duly cautions,” said Joel Roodman, President & Head of Studio, MUS immersive. “However, the media landscape is changing and evolving rapidly. They may be prudent, but it is important to MUS immersive that new and exciting films, filmmakers, cinematic language and spaces for these shared experiences continue to develop. We will bring new content, and important existing content, to our developing venue network of venues, starting in New York. We will not see the theatrical window wither on our watch.”
Alferov’s short was created using Gemini and Nano Banana Pro. Post-processing was done in Topaz Video AI.
The winning project was selected through a combination of juried and public voting.
Thanksgiving Day can be viewed on the Frame Forward website. The short film’s synopsis, per Frame Forward, is:
A Bear and his assistant Platypus travel through the galaxy on a spaceship that resembles a flying dumpster. Their lack of hygiene makes them easy targets for a series of corrupt officials: a police officer demands a bribe, an eco-inspector issues heavy fines, and a quarantine officer raids their fridge, leaving it empty. Bankrupt and starving, the duo faces a bleak outcome until a food delivery arrives, piloted by an anthropomorphic Turkey. The film concludes with the Platypus stocking the fridge and the pair enjoying a roast dinner, leaving a dark implication that the delivery courier itself became the main course of this Thanksgiving Day.