AI cinema milestones: Tribeca screens AI-made film as Amazon drops OpenAI biopic

Tribeca Film Festival included an entirely AI‑generated feature, "Dreams of Violets", in its official 2026 lineup. The 75‑minute drama, produced by Iranian brothers Ash and Pooya Koosha for about US$2,000, used tools such as Google Nano Banana, Kling AI, Claude and Gemini to create images, video frames and language. The film recounts a fictionalised account of a civilian massacre in Iran in January 2026 and premiered on 10 June at New York’s AMC Flat Iron Theatre.

In a separate development, Amazon’s Prime Video/MGM Studios halted production of the biopic "Artificial", which depicts OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s rise. The project, directed by Luca Guadagnino and scripted by Simon Rich, had received roughly US$40 million of Amazon’s backing despite the company’s US$50 billion investment in OpenAI. Amazon said the film would be better served by another studio and is assisting the producers in finding a new home.