Films from TYO’s AI short film project “TOKYO STORIES” have won awards and honors at WAIFF 2026 KYOTO!

WAIFF is one of the world’s largest international film festivals dedicated to AI, having held its inaugural event in Nice, France, in April 2025. It was founded with the aim of “exploring the intersection of film and artificial intelligence.” The second edition is scheduled to take place in Cannes, France, in April 2026, and as part of its international partnership, a Japanese edition was held in Kyoto in March 2026.

A total of 431 entries were submitted for the “WORLD AI FILM FESTIVAL 2026 in KYOTO” competition held in Japan, and the Best Film winners in each category were selected from among the 39 finalists. The winners were announced at the awards ceremony held on March 12, 2026, at the ROHM Theatre Kyoto. Only the outstanding works selected in the four cities where preliminary rounds were held (São Paulo, Brazil; Seoul, South Korea; Wuxi, China; and Kyoto, Japan) will be invited to WAIFF Cannes 2026 through the “Road to WAIFF Cannes 2026” program.

---

■The winning entries are as follows.

≪Special Jury Prize by Fumiko Futami≫ Best AI Film Award

TOKYO STORIES No. 03: “TOKYO GREAT WALL—The Tokyo Wall”

Creator:AiVE

About the Work
Tokyo in the near future. Under the “Capital Overcrowding Prevention Act” (commonly known as the “Tokyo Wall Act”), Tokyo is completely sealed off by a massive wall known as the “Tokyo Wall.”
The governor declared it “the last bastion defending the future” and triumphantly proclaimed the birth of a new order.
Ten years later. Eiji, a 17-year-old boy from the countryside, is making his way through the mountains along the Wall, hoping to enter Tokyo illegally to pursue his dream of becoming a musician. However, the seemingly endless Wall continues to block his path. At a loss, he encounters an elderly man—a former Tokyo resident now living in the forest—who teaches him the secret to crossing the Wall: visiting a ramen shop along a closed national highway and becoming a “nested” person.

Conceived in response to news reports about a “wall” that once existed in the real world. An original work exploring the boundary between technology and emotion, made possible by the evolution of AI, which has enabled high-dimensional visual expression even on an individual scale.

Jury Comments (Excerpted from the WAIFF official website)
I found this world-building to be incredibly interesting. The story—featuring a boy who wants to go inside the wall and a girl who wants to get out—was presented in a way that was both easy to follow and skillfully crafted. From a translator’s perspective, even though the characters, who appear to be Japanese, speak English, the world-building made it feel completely natural. Plus, the characters’ lip movements matched their dialogue perfectly, which allowed me to really immerse myself in the story. I’m looking forward to seeing what this creator comes up with next.

---

≪Finalist≫ Best AI Film Award

TOKYO STORIES No. 05: “TOKYO LIMINAL”

Creator:Shingo Hashimoto

About the Film
“TOKYO LIMINAL” is an AI-driven short film set in the invisible layers of Tokyo, where ancient yokai still exist.
Through a series of encounters presented in an interview format, the yokai quietly observe modern urban life and raise questions about rivers shaped beyond their limits, endlessly shifting identities, a future reduced to notifications, nights erased by artificial light, and a society obsessed with height and domination.
Rather than critiquing the present, the film uses folk lore as a contemplative lens to explore how modern society, centuries later, appears strange—or even monstrous.

About TOKYO STORIES

■You can also find more details on the page below.
WAIFF Official Website

Related News:TYO Launches “TOKYO STORIES,” a Short Film Project Exploring the Possibilities of Visual Expression Through AI with a “Tokyo” Theme (March 2, 2026)