Jacopo Reale wins Best Director at Astana AI Film Festival

Jacopo Reale, director and AI Creative Director at Labyrinth Reply, has won the Best Director award at the 2026 Astana AI Film Festival for his short film, ‘The Fracture’. The film was produced by Animatix.ai and Labyrinth.

Set in the year 1515, ‘The Fracture’ follows Queen Anna as she awaits her husband’s return from war. Upon his return, the King is changed and plagued by visions, leading Anna to discover a mysterious rift in reality. The short film was created entirely using artificial intelligence, following traditional production workflows including scriptwriting, editing, sound design, and mixing.

The Astana AI Film Festival serves as an international platform for audiovisual productions created with AI. The jury evaluated entries based on artistic vision, narrative quality, cinematic design, and the integration of technology into the creative concept.