KOCHI: If things go as per plan, Kerala will host what’s being touted as India’s first AI film festival in August this year.
Organised by the School of Storytelling (SoS), an AI filmmaking institute in Kochi, the three-day event will see submissions from across the world and an international jury.
“We have AI sections in major film festivals globally, but this is the first festival in India exclusively dedicated to AI filmmaking,” says Varun Ramesh, founder of SoS.
“We are in the AI era. In a few months, we will see a boom in AI filmmaking. An AI film requires less than 50 per cent of the resources needed for a traditinal one. Malayalam’s first AI film is likely to be out by April this year.”
The film festival, he says, is an extension of his institute’s vision. “Our first course was launched by veteran actor Kamal Haasan last October. He himself had just returned from the West after taking a course on use of AI in films,” says Varun, a former journalist who took a detour and became an AI trainer.
“Kamal sir felt that just like Kerala’s film society movement, we now needed an AI filmmakers’ movement, inclusive of those with potential but no film background.”
Backed by Kerala Startup Mission, the school’s flagship course aims to train “at least 1,000 storytellers in blending film aesthetics with AI technology”.
“Clearly, there is a shortage of trained hands. That gap inspired the school. Our workshops at the recent IFFK drew a lot of attention. Filmmakers across languages have approached us for AI-driven projects,” says Varun.
“Our first batch, which launched this month, is now closed. We will launch the next batch in April. What makes us different from others is that we don’t merely teach how to use AI tools; we teach our students how to blend AI in their work, starting from ideation to the final stages of film production.”
Training programme
Format: Online
Duration: 3 months
Language: Malayalam and English
What you learn:
• AI-driven ideation and scriptwriting
• Prompt engineering
• Storyboarding and character design
• AI-assisted art direction and visual design
• Sound design, editing and VFX
The next batch will be starting in April 2026