Big Screen Hack London 2026 Reveals Amazing Filmmakers from Different Countries

Big Screen Hack London 2026 was a great revelation of amazing filmmakers in the fast rising generative AI film industry. And they are among the best filmmakers from different countries in the world.

The highly popular Big Screen Hack London 2026 event took place from 5 October to 16 October 2026. It ran alongside the prestigious British Film Institute (BFI) London Film Festival.

The event featured a 5-day build sprint where independent filmmakers and AI engineers teamed up to write, generate, and edit short cinematic pilots. These creators competed for a massive prize pool valued at over $50,000. The event culminated yesterday, 16 October 2026, with an exclusive shortlist showcase and grand premiere screening on the massive Science Museum IMAX Screen in London.  

More than 340 people came to the IMAX on Friday night to watch the shortlisted films

The premiere global festival circuit and hackathon is designed specifically for AI-native filmmakers and developers. 

486 people joined, in Hackney and online

Within five days, the filmmakers made 

186 films and adverts with 153 posters.

The jury had 30 judges, including Emmy and BAFTA winners casting more than 600 votes

The prize and credit pool worth over USD 50,000

View all the winners on https://www.bigscreenhack.com/winners

View the short films on https://www.bigscreenhack.com/watch

View all the films and posters on https://www.bigscreenhack.com/

The global AI in film market size is valued at $1.97 billion in 2026.

The market is projected to reach $4.6 billion by 2030, expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.6%.  

Big Screen Hack London 2026

 

Big Screen Hack London is a premiere festival and hackathon circuit designed for AI-native filmmakers and developers. The October 2026 edition brings creative minds together over five days to develop short film pilots from scratch using advanced creative-AI tools. "

453 people took part
186 films and ads handed in, by 122 teams
More than 6 hours of brand new work for the judges
126 entries for The Greenlight, 33 for The Big Sell and 26 for Micro Drama
28 judges now working through all of it

You should be really proud of that.

The poster wall is live too, with 80 posters on it already. Go and have a look:
https://www.bigscreenhack.com/posters

If you haven’t uploaded your poster yet, please do, in the highest quality you possibly can. They’re going to look amazing at the IMAX and online 🎬 

The First Annual African AI Film Festival Live in Hollywood

The First Annual African AI Film Festival Live in Hollywood

 

The First Annual African AI Film Festival - live in Hollywood (Nov 21) & Kampala, Uganda (Dec 12) 

The annual African AI Film Festival is opening a new stage for African and African-diaspora storytellers using artificial intelligence.

Launching its inaugural edition in November 2026, the African AI Film Festival is the first global stage dedicated to African and African-diaspora filmmakers reimagining cinema with artificial intelligence. The festival brings together Africa’s storytelling traditions with the newest creative technologies, creating a platform where filmmakers can explore new ways of telling authentic African stories. By hosting live events in both Hollywood and Kampala, the festival creates a bridge between African storytelling and the global AI filmmaking community.

• Festival: African AI Film Festival - live in Hollywood (Nov 21) & Kampala, Uganda (Dec 12)
• Submit (free for Africa-based + emerging): filmfreeway.com/AfricanAIFilmFestival
• Trailer: https://vimeo.com/1210632566
• Website: africanaifilmfestival.org
• Recent feature (for reference/sharing): https://shaike.ai/the-african-ai-film-festival-opens-a-new-stage-for-african-storytelling/

#Africa

#AI

#Africanaifilmfestival

#filmfestival

#Hollywood

#November

No Nigerian Filmmaker is Among the Best and Greatest African Filmmakers

No Nigerian Filmmaker is Among the Best and Greatest African Filmmakers

I am currently doing research on my article on "African Cinema in the Eyes of the World". 

No Nigerian filmmaker is among the best and greatest filmmakers in African Cinema since 1925 to date. None of them is on the list of the to 10 African Filmmakers.

Only Newton Aduaka's multiple award winning film,"Ezra" that won the most prestigious award of the "Étalon d'or de Yennenga" (Golden Stallion of Yennenga) at the 2007 Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou or FESPACO) (held biennially in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. "Ezra" also other sspecial awards; including the Oumarou Ganda Prize, given for the best first film, and the Paul Robeson Prize for the best film by a director of the African diaspora named in honour of the major 20th-century American actor, singer and civil rights activist in the United States.) and C.J Obasi's cinematic masterpiece, "Mami Wata", the  2023 sci-fi drama based on the mythology of Nigerian marine spirits  are included in the best 100 African films so far.

"Mami Wata"'s  cinematographer Lílis Soares won the Special Jury Prize in the World Dramatic Competition and won three awards at FESPACO - Prix de la Critique Paulin S. Vieyra (African Critics Award), Meilleure Image (Cinematography Award) and Meilleur Décor (Set Design Award).

The first African film to win international recognition was Sembène Ousmane's "La Noire de (Black Girl). It won the Prix Jean Vigo in 1966. Ousmane is recognized as the Father of African Cinema.

Only one African film has won the highly coveted Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, "Chronicles of the Years of Fire" (1975) by Algerian director Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina. 

Then Mati Diop of Senegal became the only African woman to win the Grand Prix, the second-most prestigious award, for her film "Atlantics" in 2019.

"Tsotsi", a South African film is the first African film to win  the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006 actually,  the first non-French language film from Africa to achieve this honor.  It was directed by Gavin Hood, based on a novel by Athol Fugard.

The first African film to win the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival was "U-Carmen eKhayelitsha", a South African drama directed by Mark Dornford-May, in 2005.

"Dahomey, directed by Mati Diop won the Golden Bear at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival in 2024, the first Black filmmaker to win the award. 

No African films has won the Toronto International Film Festival's People's Choice Award. However, "Mother, Mother" by Somalian filmmaker K'naan Warsame did receive the FIPRESCI Jury Award in 2024.

The Golden Globes celebrated a century of Egyptian Cinema in 2021. I have been working on "A Century of Nigerian Cinema: from Palaver To Nollywood - 1926-2026".

- by Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
The Publisher/Editor,
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series, the first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry.

#africa
#africancinema
#nigeria
#nollywood
#filmmakers
#films
#academyawards
#filmfestival
#cannes
#berlin
#toronto
#Ousmane
#diop
#obasi
#aduaka
#blackgirl
#Tsotsi
#ezra
#mamiwata
#palmedor

#goldenlion
#goldenbear
#goldenglobes
#fespaco
#movies
#series
#books