What is Lumara? 5 AI film awards and 6 finalists in 2026

Lumara is an independent AI film festival presented by MoonPay and Venice. After its premiere night on October 26 in New York, the festival named five category winners, plus a Grand Prize for Candy by Jiaze Li and a Jury Selection award for Mianmian by Yingjie Chen, with total prizes of $100,000 in cash and 10 million Venice credits.

On October 26, 2026, the Lumara AI film festival held its first premiere and awards night at the Roxy Hotel Cinema in New York. The festival announced five category winners and the two top prizes, chosen from 16 nominees and more than 700 films submitted from around the world.

Lumara is the AI film festival from MoonPay and Venice

Lumara is an independent festival for artists who make films with AI. Its official site says AI has given filmmakers a new set of tools and a new creative language. Lumara exists to find and celebrate the films that come out of this turning point for cinema.

MoonPay and Venice present the festival. MoonPay is a global payments infrastructure company serving more than 35 million customers in 180 countries. Venice is a privacy-first AI platform that lets filmmakers use leading video, image, and audio models in one private workspace, including Seedance, the AI video model from ByteDance.

Submissions ran from July 24 to September 15, 2026, and drew more than 700 films from around the world. Entry was free and open worldwide. Filmmakers could use any AI filmmaking platform, with no requirement to use one specific tool. Entrants who chose Venice received a credit bundle to start their production.

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Lumara calls itself an artist-first and artist-led festival. Its event page welcomes films that do not fit inside corporate content policies, made by filmmakers with singular visions and the nerve to take risks. That stance sets Lumara apart from showcase events that screen only brand-safe work. The festival treats AI as a creative language, not a shortcut, and it rewards films where the tool serves a clear idea.

Five category awards and their winners

The official Lumara site now lists the five category winners. Each award had three or four nominees, and the winner is marked clearly on the nominees page. Cash prizes for the five category awards total $48,000, plus 4.8 million Venice credits.

The Terminal Award goes to the best experimental film. REVIVER by Aleksey Dor won it. The other two nominees were Stories My Great Great Great Grandmother Told Me by Philippe Noguchi and THE LAST TRIBE by Stephane Benini.

The Serenissima Award goes to the best film made with Venice. Black Thunder by Ryan Lightbourn won it, ahead of Er Loop by Marco Magario and Never Forget by Allan Ecax. Black Thunder is also one of the six finalists in the main competition.

The Get Shorty Award goes to the best film under two minutes. Ato de [Later] by Luke Mazey won it, ahead of COMPULSION by Gyuseon Lee, Do Not Disturb by Adrian Daniel Botnariu, and Summer Afternoon, July 1994 by Charlie Park.

The Mouse Award goes to the best film for young audiences. FIX by Eunha Lee, Sora Lee, and Hakhoon Lee won it, ahead of Far away home by Siping Song and Roraima by Ishan Devare Modi.

The Rekt Award goes to the best film about finance or crypto. JUST SAY SOLANA by Yassine Le Gall won it, ahead of Great Pepe Wars by Aiden Guo and ROLL EVERYTHING by Ashanth Phillips.

Beyond the five category awards, the festival named 17 films as honorable mentions. The list recognizes films with a unique voice or vision, chosen by the festival itself.

Six finalists compete for the $32,000 Grand Prize

Six films reached the final round for the two top prizes. The Grand Prize is worth $32,000 and 3.2 million Venice credits. The Jury Selection award is worth $20,000 and 2 million Venice credits.

The six finalists are Black Thunder by Ryan Lightbourn, Candy by Jiaze Li, and Gabriel by T Zhang. The other three are Killabears - The Broadcast by Mikael Tyrsen, Living with a Merman by Chris Capel, and Mianmian by Yingjie Chen. The official site now marks Candy by Jiaze Li with the gold Grand Prize trophy and Mianmian by Yingjie Chen with the silver Jury Selection trophy.

Total prizes across all seven categories come to $100,000 in cash and 10 million Venice credits. That figure covers the two top prizes and the five category awards, as the festival event page states.

The name Lumara is easy to confuse with Luma AI, a different AI video tool. Lumara is the name of the festival, while Luma AI is the name of a video model.

A nine-person jury judges on three criteria

The Lumara jury has nine members, all AI filmmakers and internet culture figures. The list includes Voidstomper, Gossip Goblin, Chris White, JBoogxCreative, Heavy Pulp, SÜNDERMANN, BLVCKL!GHT, Ansem, and FaZe Banks.

Chris White is an executive producer of BACKROOMS, the A24 horror film. Voidstomper is an AI visual artist with more than 8 million followers across platforms. Gossip Goblin is an AI filmmaker and jury member who also premiered new work on the awards night.

Daring Creatives called him possibly "the most-followed AI-native visual artist in the world right now," and he has racked up billions of views across more than 8 million combined followers. The press has called Gossip Goblin the George Lucas of AI. Chris White helped turn the viral Backrooms series into an A24 feature that grossed more than $393 million worldwide. The jury mixes AI-native creators with traditional film experience.

The jury scores films on three criteria. The first is the strength of the idea. The second is the quality of the storytelling. The third is how well the filmmaker uses AI. Judges also weigh how coherent the world, setting, and characters stay across the film.

October 26 premiere and where to watch the winners

The first Lumara screening and awards night took place on October 26 at the Roxy Hotel Cinema in New York. The finalist films screened in full that evening, and the festival announced the winners live at the event. The event page notes that entry depends on venue capacity, and guests should arrive on time because late entry after screenings begin is not permitted.

The evening also screened an extended prologue from Gossip Goblin's new film, Gods Don't Give Gifts. It is the first AI film set for a wide theatrical release later this year, according to the festival announcement.

The winning films premiered online on X and YouTube on October 27. You can watch the winners again on both channels, and see the full list on the festival official site. Before you pick a tool for your own AI film, the article on Hailuo AI, the MiniMax model with free credits compares one more video model.

The festival said the category winners would also be announced on the Venice and MoonPay channels. The winning films are now online, and the festival site keeps the full list of nominees, winners, and honorable mentions. Lumara is a first edition, so the next season will show whether the festival becomes a regular stop for AI filmmakers.

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Conclusion

Lumara named five category winners after its first premiere night in New York. Candy by Jiaze Li took the Grand Prize, Mianmian by Yingjie Chen took the Jury Selection award, and the winning films are now on X and YouTube for you to watch.

Sources

Sources (4), read and checked on October 28, 2026:

1. Lumara Film Festival (official site)
2. PRNewswire: Lumara Film Festival Announces Finalists for Inaugural AI Film Festival (October 16, 2026, read via Morningstar)
3. Luma: Lumara Film Festival World Premiere
4. Daily AI Brief: Lumara Film Festival names six finalists from over 700 AI film submissions

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