The first Runway AI Film Festival in 2023 set the template for the entire AI film festival circuit that followed. Powered by Runway and curated by a panel including filmmaker Paul Trillo, musician Holly Herndon, and Runway CEO Cristobal Valenzuela, the festival selected 10 finalists from hundreds of submissions for a two-city screening tour: NYC on February 21 and San Francisco on March 22, 2023.
The Grand Prix went to "Generation" by Riccardo Fusetti, with Áron Filkey and Joss Fong's "Checkpoint" taking Gold and Jake Oleson's "Given Again" winning Silver. Honoree awards went to Jordan Rosenbloom's "Original Voice" and Laen Sanches' "PLSTC". Five Merit awards rounded out the showcase, including Kyle Goodrich's "Landscape", Shan He's "I want 1000 Rabbits", "AI ARTIST" by Jessey Nelson and Dani Barker, the A$AP Rocky promo "Shittin Me" by Dan Streit and Cole Kush, and Sam Lawton's "Expanded Childhood".
What made AIFF 2023 significant was less the films themselves than the signal it sent: a major commercial AI video tool company committing to a festival-circuit treatment of work made with its products. The category structure (Grand Prix > Gold > Silver > Honoree > Merit) borrowed from traditional ad festival hierarchies rather than the indie short film template, hinting at the commercial use cases Runway was preparing the ecosystem for.