By Robert Booth
Publication Date: 2026-04-26 06:00:00
IIn the darkened screening rooms of Cannes this week, the supposed future of cinema came to life, and it was strange. The first edition of the World AI Film Festival (WAIFF) featured visions of men with fish scales sticking out of their necks and algae sticking out of their mouths, a heroine whose heart beat outside her body, and so many mass armies of AI-generated tanned men sweeping across battlefields that David Lean would have blushed.
Last week, the Cannes Film Festival, entering its 76th year, banned the new technology from its Palme d’Or competition, saying: “Although AI imitates very well, it will never evoke deep emotions.” But this week the Croisette was taken over by the emerging AI film movement and its Big Tech backers, while Hollywood studios increasingly invested and paid attention. There will be a “Nouvelle vague,” they said.
Many of the films shown were far from the sun-kissed glamor normally associated with Cannes icons like Brigitte Bardot or…
