Latvian filmmaker wins US$450,000 prize at Astana AI festival

Nikolay Shestak, a filmmaker from Latvia, has received the Grand Prix and US$450,000 at the inaugural Astana AI Film Festival in Kazakhstan. His winning film, The First Honest Day, was made using artificial intelligence.

The film depicts characters whose appearance changes according to their behaviour: wrongdoing makes them uglier, while good actions improve them. Shestak said the victory was unexpected and that he plans to put the money towards new films and the development of his projects. He began directing around four years ago and making AI films two years ago.

Indian filmmaker Abhik Banerjee finished second in the main competition with SITARA, receiving US$200,000. Spain's Ernest Desumbila placed third with Looking For Perseida and received US$100,000.

The open competition awarded US$50,000 to each of five winners. Among them were Italian filmmakers Jacopo Zanetti, who received Best Visual for What's the Job?, and Jacopo Reale, whose The Fracture won Best Direction.

More than 8,000 entries came from 125 countries, and 25 films made the final programme. The projects covered 19 genres and used more than 80 generative AI models. Judging considered storytelling, artistic vision and coherence alongside the use of AI and its integration into each film's creative concept.

The competition entries were also shown in Astana cinemas for public audiences. The festival's US$2 million fund was split between prize money and investment capital earmarked for promising AI teams and production development in Kazakhstan.