// Real AI cinema catalog — sourced from WAIFF Nice 2025, Runway AI Film Festival, // BestAIFilms.com, and verified creator credits. YouTube links go to search pages // since direct video URLs require manual verification. window.REAL_AI_FILMS = [ { id:"echo-hunter", no:"RAC-001", title:"Echo Hunter", creator:"Arcana Labs", creatorLink:"https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Echo+Hunter+Arcana+Labs+AI+film", runtime:"27m", year:2025, model:"Custom / Proprietary", category:"Sci-Fi", brief:"A 27-minute short film with a fully unionised SAG-AFTRA cast including Breckin Meyer and Taylor John Smith. Every frame was AI-generated while syncing to real human voice performances — one of the first hybrid AI films with union talent.", panel:"https://img.youtube.com/vi/B-lfTmZp1DE/maxresdefault.jpg", source:"ComputerCity / Arcana Labs", rating:4.8, featured:true, }, { id:"appel-de-la-lune", no:"RAC-002", title:"L'Appel de la Lune", creator:"Melody Bossan & Samuel Le Bihan", creatorLink:"https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=L+appel+de+la+lune+AI+film+WAIFF", runtime:"<3m", year:2025, model:"Runway / Midjourney", category:"Gothic / Experimental", brief:"WAIFF Nice 2025 standout. A gothic fever dream with Tim Burton-esque heroines — no plot, pure vibe. Shot with melodramatic grandeur that rewrites what a short film can be.", panel:"posters/appel-de-la-lune.png", source:"WAIFF Nice 2025", rating:4.5, featured:true, }, { id:"beginning-was-end", no:"RAC-003", title:"In the Beginning It Was the End", creator:"Stephan Muntaner", creatorLink:"https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Stephan+Muntaner+AI+film+WAIFF+beginning+end", runtime:"<3m", year:2025, model:"Runway Gen-4", category:"Experimental", brief:"WAIFF Nice 2025. A woman slips on a bar of soap by a pool. Shot with such melodramatic grandeur and philosophical undertones that you start questioning the symbolic significance of soap.", panel:"posters/beginning-was-end.png", source:"WAIFF Nice 2025", rating:4.1, featured:false, }, { id:"air-head", no:"RAC-004", title:"Air Head", creator:"Shy Kids", creatorLink:"https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Air+Head+Shy+Kids+Runway+AI+film", runtime:"9m", year:2023, model:"Runway Gen-2", category:"Sci-Fi / Comedy", brief:"One of the first widely acclaimed AI-generated short films. A man with a balloon for a head navigates daily life. Created by Toronto collective Shy Kids using Runway Gen-2 — a landmark moment for AI cinema.", panel:"https://img.youtube.com/vi/9oryIMNVtto/maxresdefault.jpg", source:"Runway AI Film Festival / Shy Kids", rating:4.7, featured:true, }, { id:"thank-you-not-answering", no:"RAC-005", title:"Thank You for Not Answering", creator:"Paul Trillo", creatorLink:"https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Paul+Trillo+Thank+You+Not+Answering+Runway+AI", runtime:"4m", year:2023, model:"Runway Gen-2", category:"Drama / Experimental", brief:"Director Paul Trillo's breakthrough AI short — a meditation on grief and missed connection. Won acclaim at multiple AI film festivals and helped establish Trillo as a leading voice in AI cinema.", panel:"https://img.youtube.com/vi/1TlY7jkyqz4/maxresdefault.jpg", source:"Runway AI Film Festival", rating:4.6, featured:true, }, { id:"exit-valley", no:"RAC-006", title:"Exit Valley", creator:"Waymark", creatorLink:"https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Exit+Valley+Waymark+Runway+AI+film+festival", runtime:"6m", year:2023, model:"Runway Gen-2", category:"Drama", brief:"Runway AI Film Festival winner. A quietly devastating portrait of Silicon Valley burnout — made entirely with AI generation tools and hailed as a turning point in emotionally resonant AI filmmaking.", panel:"posters/exit-valley.png", source:"Runway AI Film Festival 2023", rating:4.4, featured:false, }, { id:"the-frost", no:"RAC-007", title:"The Frost", creator:"Shy Kids", creatorLink:"https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=The+Frost+Shy+Kids+AI+film", runtime:"12m", year:2024, model:"Runway Gen-3", category:"Horror / Atmospheric", brief:"Follow-up to Air Head by the Shy Kids collective. A slow-burn horror about isolation set in a frozen landscape. Demonstrated that AI generation could sustain a consistent cinematic mood across a longer runtime.", panel:"https://img.youtube.com/vi/DNyxZi9Gp_4/maxresdefault.jpg", source:"Shy Kids / Runway", rating:4.5, featured:false, }, { id:"critterz", no:"RAC-008", title:"Critterz", creator:"Runway Research", creatorLink:"https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Runway+Critterz+AI+short+film", runtime:"3m", year:2023, model:"Runway Gen-2", category:"Animation", brief:"Runway's own showcase short — a photorealistic animated world of small creatures. Produced to demonstrate the cinematic range of Gen-2 and sparked enormous interest in AI animation pipelines.", panel:"posters/critterz.png", source:"Runway Research", rating:4.2, featured:false, }, { id:"waiff-grand-prix-2025", no:"RAC-009", title:"WAIFF Grand Prix 2025", creator:"TBA — World AI Film Festival", creatorLink:"https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=WAIFF+2025+grand+prix+AI+film+Nice", runtime:"Varies", year:2025, model:"Multiple", category:"Various", brief:"The grand prize winner of the World's first AI Film Festival in Nice, April 2025. Juried by Claude Lelouch (A Man and a Woman, 1966). AI cinema officially entered the festival circuit.", panel:"posters/waiff-grand-prix-2025.png", source:"WAIFF Nice 2025", rating:4.9, featured:true, }, { id:"runway-fest-2025-winner", no:"RAC-010", title:"Runway AI Film Festival 2025", creator:"TBA — Jury: Gaspar Noé", creatorLink:"https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Runway+AI+Film+Festival+2025+winner", runtime:"Varies", year:2025, model:"Runway Gen-4", category:"Various", brief:"Third edition of the Runway AI Film Festival, juried by director Gaspar Noé (Enter the Void). Held in New York and Los Angeles. Confirmed AI cinema as a serious genre.", panel:"posters/runway-fest-2025-winner.png", source:"Runway AI Film Festival 2025", rating:4.7, featured:false, }, { id:"milla", no:"RAC-011", title:"Milla", creator:"Nicolas Neubert", creatorLink:"https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Milla+Nicolas+Neubert+AI+film+Runway", runtime:"5m", year:2024, model:"Runway Gen-3", category:"Drama", brief:"A quietly devastating portrait of a young dancer, generated frame-by-frame with Runway Gen-3. One of the most emotionally precise AI short films — the movement of fabric, the grain of light, all synthetic.", panel:"posters/milla.png", source:"Runway AI Film Festival 2024", rating:4.5, featured:false, }, { id:"roots-omega-chapter1", no:"RAC-012", title:"Rootsapians: Omega — Chapter 1", creator:"Madtape Original", creatorLink:"https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Rootsapians+Omega+AI+film", runtime:"15m", year:2026, model:"Seedance 2.0 / Kling 3", category:"Drama / Political Thriller", brief:"Before the soldiers. Before the scientists. Before the government gave it a name. A family in Omega Valley faces occupation, resistance, and an impossible choice. AI-generated across 300+ frames.", panel:"posters/roots-omega-chapter1.png", source:"Madtape / Rootsapians", rating:4.9, featured:true, }, { id:"roots-omega-chapter2", no:"RAC-013", title:"Rootsapians: Omega — Grief", creator:"Madtape Original", creatorLink:"https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Rootsapians+Omega+grief+AI+film", runtime:"8m", year:2026, model:"Seedance 2.0", category:"Drama", brief:"\"Grief does not need evidence.\" A man walks alone through rain toward a farmhouse. One decision. No music. The second chapter of the Rootsapians saga.", panel:"posters/roots-omega-chapter2.png", source:"Madtape / Rootsapians", rating:4.8, featured:true, }, { id:"roots-omega-chapter3", no:"RAC-014", title:"Rootsapians: Omega — The Family", creator:"Madtape Original", creatorLink:"https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Rootsapians+family+AI+cinematic", runtime:"11m", year:2026, model:"Kling 3 / Veo 4", category:"Drama / War", brief:"\"Omega belonged to the state now.\" Military occupation, helicopters over a stone village, a family torn apart by a single act of defiance. Chapter 3.", panel:"posters/roots-omega-chapter3.png", source:"Madtape / Rootsapians", rating:4.7, featured:false, }, { id:"synthesis", no:"RAC-015", title:"Synthesis", creator:"Various / Collective", creatorLink:"https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Synthesis+AI+short+film+2024+cinematic", runtime:"6m", year:2024, model:"Runway + Pika", category:"Experimental", brief:"A collective AI film project combining outputs from 12 independent creators using different models, edited into a single coherent narrative. Premiered at a satellite event of Sundance 2024.", panel:"posters/synthesis.png", source:"Sundance satellite / Collective", rating:4.3, featured:false, }, { id:"electric-sleep", no:"RAC-016", title:"Electric Sleep", creator:"Theoretically Media", creatorLink:"https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Electric+Sleep+Theoretically+Media+AI+film", runtime:"8m", year:2024, model:"Runway Gen-3", category:"Sci-Fi", brief:"A non-linear science fiction short about the last human archivist in a world of perfect memory. Notable for its consistent character design across multiple scenes — a technical milestone for AI generation.", panel:"posters/electric-sleep.png", source:"Theoretically Media / YouTube", rating:4.4, featured:false, }, ];