Cannes Film Festival Says the Wall Street Journal Is Wrong: It's Not Debuting an AI-Generated Feature Film This Week

A report claimed a fully AI-generated action-adventure film titled “Hell Grind” was being screened at the Cannes Film Festival. The film was described as having every character, setting, and prop generated by AI. The film could not be found on the official Cannes schedule. Festival organizers confirmed that “Hell Grind” was not screened as part of the official Festival de Cannes program, stating it was presented during a third-party industry event in Cannes. The film’s company did not clarify the confusion after the founder posted about premiering at Cannes. Reactions included criticism that the screening occurred at a local theater in Cannes rather than as a festival venue.

"“Four street thieves are on the road to hell, literally, in an action-adventure movie debuting at the Cannes Film Festival Thursday,” the newspaper wrote. “But what's compelling about 'Hell Grind' isn't the campy plot: It's that every character, setting and prop in the 95-minute movie was generated by AI.”"

"“We can confirm that 'Hell Grind' was not screened as part of the official Festival de Cannes program,” a Cannes spokesperson told us. “As publicly reported by Screen Daily and other media outlets, the project was presented during an industry event organized by third parties in Cannes.”"

"When the company's founder Alex Mashrabov posted on LinkedIn this week that “we just premiered at Cannes our first 95-minute feature film” - and boasted that “for decades, Cannes has been the room where new cinema gets legitimized” - certain reactions were sharp."

"“This isn't screening at the Festival de Cannes, which is what you're implying,” director John Washburn shot back in the replies. “The [Cinéma Olympia] is a movie theatre that happens to be in the town of Cannes but it isn't a venue for the festival. The suggestion that paying for a screening at some rando”"

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