DAIFF galvinises industry, academia, tech and government to back next gen AI storytellers

DISRUPT, the inaugural AI Film Festival (DAIFF), first announced earlier this year, has revealed more about its 2025 program. Hosted by TBWA\Australia at ACMI Melbourne, DAIFF is Australia’s first Gen AI film festival, a national platform for filmmakers, artists, technologists, and students to explore storytelling powered by AI. Anchored by the 2025 theme “Humans and Their Tools”, the festival champions human-in-the-loop creativity, where technology becomes a co-creator, not a competitor.

 

BMW, Google, Leonardo.Ai, Holding Redlich, RMIT University, Swinburne University of Technology, and the National Artificial Intelligence Centre (NAIC) are joining forces as sponsors and partners in a first-of-its-kind coalition at DAIFF. This is the first time in Australia that partners of this calibre have come together to support the next generation of AI storytellers and build a distinct Australian voice in cultural AI.

Each partner brings a critical capability: BMW’s fusion of creativity and engineering; Google’s global leadership in AI innovation; Leonardo.Ai’s generative tools empowering human imagination; Holding Redlich’s expertise in authorship, copyright and IP; and Swinburne and RMIT’s leadership in research and talent development for the next generation of AI-ready storytellers. Collectively, they are supporting DAIFF and co-architecting the infrastructure for Australia’s creative AI economy.

As part of its commitment to emerging talent, Leonardo.Ai has donated 5,000 credits to Swinburne and RMIT students, giving them access to cutting-edge generative tools, including access to frontier models like Google’s VEO3, ensuring young filmmakers are working with the very latest in creative AI under expert human guidance.

Hosted at ACMI Melbourne on 26 November 2025, the festival will feature screenings of Australian GenAI films and headline panels on Authorship & Ownership and Creativity & AI, showcasing how generative tools are already impacting film and storytelling.

Says Lucio Ribeiro, Chief AI & Innovation Officer at TBWA\Australia: “AI is already transforming business models across industries, and creativity is no exception. We are committed to human creativity and DISRUPT is designed to show how AI can work alongside humans, while also unlocking new commercial pathways: from jobs to exports to entirely new categories of storytelling. For Australia to remain competitive, we need to treat creative AI not as a novelty but as infrastructure and build a local community around it.”

Says Associate Professor Max Schleser, Course Director for Film and Television at Swinburne University of Technology: “We are observing a new wave of filmmaking emerging. We can notice a proliferation of hundreds of new AI film festivals or festivals that include a dedicated AI category in the last two or three years.

“The Disrupt AI Film Festival puts Australia on the map and new screen forms on the cinema screen. DAIFF is a festival but also a catalyst for creative innovation. By igniting a conversation around GenAI with industry, academia, technology, law and the creative arts, we can ensure Australia has a strong voice in shaping meaningful applications of GenAI. Through supporting the next generation of creative talent in the Australian screen industry now, we will also collectively ensure that Australian stories will resonate globally tomorrow.”

Says Suzana Ristevski, Chief Marketing Officer, Google Australia & New Zealand: “Australia has always been home to world-class creators. The next frontier of creative storytelling is here, and it will be defined by the partnership between human vision and powerful new tools.

“At Google, we are committed to building that future responsibly and ensuring that AI empowers creative makers. DAIFF is a critical platform for this, and we’re proud to support the Australian creative community as they show the world what’s next.”

Says Dwayne Koh, Head of Creative, Leonardo.Ai: “At Leonardo.Ai, we believe AI should amplify human imagination, not replace it. DAIFF celebrates that spirit, and we’re excited to partner on the inaugural festival to show what’s possible when creators and technology work together to unlock new ways to tell stories that are bold, original and profoundly human.”

Australia’s creative industries already contribute more than $17 billion annually to the economy and employ 600,000 Australians. DAIFF demonstrates how, with the right partners, humans and AI can support cultural change, strengthen communities, and drive economic growth.

With Screen Australia’s AI Guiding Principles still largely untested, DAIFF provides a live proving ground for how copyright, consent, and cultural protection frameworks can work in practice.

As GenAI film events in New York, Berlin and London draw thousands of submissions and theatrical distribution deals, Australia risks being left behind. DAIFF ensures the nation has both a voice and a vision in the global creative AI movement, with its coalition of partners placing creativity at the centre of Australia’s competitiveness agenda.

Calls for partners and supporters close on 5 October 2025.