AI-assisted film Dreams of Violets premieres at Tribeca 2026

In short: A 75-minute film that used AI to create most of its visuals premiered as an official selection at the 2026 Tribeca Festival.

What happened

Dreams of Violets is a 75-minute docudrama directed and written by Ash Koosha, and produced by Pooya Koosha. It premiered at the 2026 Tribeca Festival as an official selection.

The story is set in Tehran in January 2026, and is inspired by 47 years of Iranian civilian resistance. It follows five strangers caught up in a violent crackdown on protesters, and a child in a wheelchair named Amir who watches from a window and decides to act.

Coverage has described the project as the first movie “created entirely by artificial intelligence” to debut at Tribeca. The director has said that is not quite accurate. He said humans wrote the script, made story decisions, planned the staging of scenes, and did the final editing, sound, and music.

What AI did, he said, was create the final look of most of what viewers see on screen. Think of it like using a computer to “paint” the footage after the story is already planned. Koosha also said this approach helped because filming the material in Iran could be difficult and risky, and he put the cost at about $2,000.

Tribeca co-founder Jane Rosenthal defended the selection, saying the festival was moved by the story’s emotional urgency, not just the technology.

Why it matters

Tribeca’s decision suggests that some major film gatekeepers are willing to include AI-heavy projects, as long as the story lands. But the premiere also drew criticism, including calls for boycotts from people worried about the effect of AI on jobs and creative work in film.

Source: NYTimes