A film created entirely by artificial intelligence is set to make history as the first of its kind to be included in a major film festival lineup. Dreams of Violets, a 75-minute docudrama, will have its world premiere on June 10 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, according to its production studio, Fountain 0.
The movie, inspired by real events from 47 years of Iranian civilian resistance, was produced on a budget of $2,000 over three months by directors and producers Ash and Pooya Koosha. The brothers, who were born in Iran and left the country in 2009, said they initially did not intend to make a film without actors, sets or cameras.
In a director's statement, Ash explained that the use of AI was a necessity due to his circumstances as an exile. 'I would have preferred to make this film with a crew, with actors, with the dignity of a full production. That was not available to me. I am one person, in exile, with no access to Iran, no access to the locations, no access to the people,' he said. He added that the AI pipeline made it possible to create a memorial film for an event that happened 'behind a wall I cannot cross.'
The project is a fictional dramatisation of a massacre of civilians that occurred in January of this year. It follows five Iranians who meet in an alley in Tehran before being executed, witnessed by a 10-year-old boy with cerebral palsy. While the images and people are generated by AI, the dramatisations are based on pictures, journalistic reporting and eyewitness accounts.
The film's inclusion at Tribeca comes amid a divisive debate in Hollywood over AI as a filmmaking tool. While some filmmakers and actors have welcomed the technology, others have expressed concerns. The Koosha brothers acknowledged these sensitivities, stating, 'We fully understand the very genuine sensitivities of those individuals working in the movie industry... But the reality is that this film never would have been made if it were not for the AI capabilities that we were able to develop.'
Tribeca Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal praised the film, saying, 'What moved us was not just the technological achievement, but the emotional immediacy and urgency of the story itself.' The 2026 Tribeca Film Festival will run from June 3 to 14 in New York City.
