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The $500,000 AI Film Screening in Cannes! · Full Vlog

2026-06-10 · BTS / making-of / vlog · Adil, Chuck Russell, Shahar Stroh, Eric, Stéphane Davy, Phedon Papamichael, Steve, a guest · recording, 34:23 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Productions (case studies) (also: Studio work & business, Assets, references & consistency) · mode: Behind the scenes · tags: guest or collaboration, series, one creator's experience

Adil's vlog from Cannes follows the premiere of Hell Grind, which he introduces as Higgsfield's first film, fully AI. At a boat event premiering the trailer and behind-the-scenes, a Higgsfield speaker gives the numbers: a team of 15, two weeks, and a budget slightly under half a million dollars. Filmmakers and VFX artists discuss AI in film, and one guest says distributors will take AI content if the data set is clean, artists were properly paid and image use is legitimate. After the screening, cinematographer Phedon Papamichael says he was very impressed, and a guest named Steve says the film could hold up in a US theatrical release.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Audience reactions after the Hell Grind premiere

00:00:31 — Landing in Nice and arriving in Cannes

00:02:01 — What the Festival de Cannes is

00:02:25 — Shahar Stroh of Moonstone Entertainment on AI as the future

  • ★★ Shahar Stroh, chief creative officer of Moonstone Entertainment, says AI is here to stay, whether as hybrid or fully generative filmmaking, that Higgsfield leads the way in many ways, and that it unlocks useful tools for independents. — 00:02:39 · Higgsfield AI · also in: We Premiered a Full AI Film in Cannes 🎬

00:03:13 — Badges, the Marché du Film and exploring the city

  • ★ Adil explains that the Marché du Film is the Cannes film market, where films are bought and sold and deals are made, with stands from almost every country. — 00:04:32

00:05:13 — Boat party premiering the Hell Grind trailer and behind-the-scenes

  • ★★ On a boat in Cannes, Adil's team premieres the Hell Grind trailer and behind-the-scenes to 130 registered industry guests, filmmakers and critics, to build interest before the full premiere on the 21st. — 00:05:13 · Hell Grind

00:06:16 — Chuck Russell, director of The Mask, on AI in Hollywood films

  • ★★ Chuck Russell says AI is already incorporated into traditional Hollywood films: The Mandalorian used the Unreal engine to generate landscapes over and over, which he calls smart CGI. — 00:06:16
  • ★★ Chuck Russell says his friends at the studios are cautious and want to use actors, but virtual sets are already in use, and with Higgsfield, which he calls the best platform, this can be taken further. — 00:06:16 · Higgsfield AI
  • ★★ Chuck Russell says the next step is new techniques for live-action actors in virtual environments, with AI perhaps even doing their wardrobe. (hedged) — 00:06:45
  • ★★ Chuck Russell says one of his projects that was once far too expensive to make has suddenly become affordable. — 00:06:45
  • ★★ Chuck Russell says AI in film is not only about saving money but about making films more beautiful and epic and giving audiences greater entertainment. — 00:06:45

00:07:05 — The Higgsfield Original Series partnership and Hell Grind's numbers

  • ★★ a guest: A Higgsfield speaker says Higgsfield partnered with Hell Grind's director and his team in the Higgsfield Original Series programme, which pushes the boundaries of end-to-end AI content creation. — 00:07:27 · Higgsfield Originals, Hell Grind
  • ★★ a guest: A Higgsfield speaker says the Higgsfield Original Series documents every step of its productions so other creative professionals can follow them and trust that AI can support their work. — 00:07:27 · Higgsfield Originals
  • ★★★ a guest: A Higgsfield speaker says Hell Grind took a team of 15 people two weeks, with a budget slightly under half a million dollars. — 00:07:27 · Hell Grind

00:08:08 — Adil after the boat event

  • ★★ Adil says more people came to the Hell Grind boat event than the 130 who signed up, with a queue and many DOPs, directors, filmmakers and AI filmmakers. (hedged) — 00:08:08 · Hell Grind

00:09:11 — A guest designs Cannes outfits with Soul ID

  • ★★ a guest: A guest at the boat event says they asked Soul ID to create outfits for Cannes and then bought the pieces from different brands. — 00:09:47 · Soul ID

00:10:10 — Production value for independent filmmakers

  • ★★ a guest: A guest says Higgsfield's tools give independent filmmakers production value once out of reach, such as sci-fi sets and costumes, so they can compete on the idea rather than on money. — 00:10:10 · Higgsfield AI

00:10:39 — Eric of Cine 613 on his AI documentary about the Temple of Jerusalem

  • ★★ Eric of Cine 613, a producer and director, says his team started a documentary about the Temple of Jerusalem about three years ago. — 00:10:39
  • ★★ Eric says his Temple of Jerusalem documentary was first a 52-minute film broadcast in 60 countries in English and French. — 00:11:23
  • ★★ Eric says major festivals asked for a minimum of one hour, so his team released a new version of the Temple of Jerusalem documentary. — 00:11:49
  • ★★ Eric says the new version of the Temple of Jerusalem documentary uses many sequences made with Higgsfield's Cinema Studio and Kling (as heard). — 00:11:49 · Cinema Studio, Kling
  • ★★ Eric says Seedance arrived near the end of the documentary, and his team now works a lot with Seedance for action and Kling for emotion. — 00:12:38 · Seedance, Kling
  • ★★ a guest: Asked whether using AI would be a problem for distribution, a guest says mostly not: distributors were very hesitant a year ago but have grown more open as AI became part of filmmaking. — 00:12:38

00:12:55 — Will distributors accept films made with AI

  • ★★★ a guest: A guest says distributors will take content that includes AI if they are assured the data set is clean, the artists were properly compensated and the use of images is legitimate. — 00:13:23

00:13:40 — What AI saved on the Temple documentary

  • ★★ a guest: A guest says the Temple of Jerusalem documentary could not have been made without AI: two earlier teams could not do it, as it was too much work and would have needed millions. — 00:14:29
  • ★★ a guest: The same guest estimates that crowd scenes of the Temple documentary would have cost one or two million without AI, the Roman destruction of the Temple two or three million, and about six months. (hedged) — 00:15:22

00:15:50 — Stéphane Davy, VFX artist, on AI in cinema and music videos

  • ★★ Stéphane Davy, a VFX supervisor, says many people can now create amazing movies: anyone who loves VFX or new technology can learn on YouTube or Higgsfield and try many tools. — 00:16:20 · YouTube, Higgsfield AI
  • ★★ Stéphane Davy says the cinema industry already uses AI tools, in productions of directors such as Claude Lelouch and Darren Aronofsky. — 00:16:50
  • ★★ Stéphane Davy: Citing Peter Jackson, Stéphane Davy says AI is a tool, amazing for VFX, and need not be feared because in the end humans use tools. — 00:17:19
  • ★★ Stéphane Davy says a shot missed on a music video can be saved by recreating another shot of the artist with AI alone. — 00:17:48
  • ★★ Stéphane Davy says he used to spend a lot of time building 3D environments in Unreal and CGI, and now uses only AI for the backgrounds of his music videos. — 00:17:48
  • ★★ Stéphane Davy expects AI tools to be even better in two years, and thinks VFX artists may then need only AI to do their jobs. (hedged) — 00:18:16

00:18:40 — Cinema on the beach, the crowds and Adil's costume

00:20:59 — Getting ready for the premiere

  • ★★ Adil says that six months earlier he was a bartender in Canada, and now he is in Cannes premiering Hell Grind, a film in which he plays the main character. — 00:20:59 · Hell Grind

00:23:07 — Adil introduces Hell Grind at its premiere

  • ★★★ Introducing himself as Higgsfield's face and content lead, Adil opens the Hell Grind premiere in Cannes: the company's first film, fully AI. — 00:23:07 · Hell Grind, Higgsfield AI, Adil
  • ★★ Adil says Hell Grind, made in 14 days, is meant to showcase both the features of Higgsfield's tool and the team of directors who made the film. — 00:23:40 · Hell Grind
  • ★★ Adil says Hell Grind is only one of many AI films and Higgsfield has a lot more in store. — 00:24:33 · Higgsfield AI, Hell Grind

00:25:12 — Post-screening reactions

  • ★★ Adil says everyone he talked to after the Hell Grind screening gave great feedback, impressed by its quality and by its having taken only 14 days. — 00:25:12 · Hell Grind
  • ★ Adil says the team may make another film and come back to Cannes next year (2027). (hedged) — 00:25:38
  • ★★ a guest: An audience member says many viewers of Hell Grind thought its images were all real, and calls the film excellent. — 00:25:38 · Hell Grind

00:26:50 — Phedon Papamichael, Cinema Vault and other guests on Hell Grind and AI cinema

  • ★★★ Phedon Papamichael: Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael says he came to Hell Grind without the highest expectations and was very impressed: there is room for improvement, but it is minor, and AI is far along in closing the gap to Hollywood standards. — 00:27:18 · Hell Grind
  • ★★ Steve, managing director of the worldwide sales agent Cinema Vault, in its 40th year at Cannes, hopes to get involved with Hell Grind, which he calls a blockbuster he can help bring to audiences worldwide. (hedged) — 00:27:44 · Hell Grind
  • ★★ Steve says studios will unavoidably learn to use AI, its obvious advantage being lower costs. — 00:28:12
  • ★★ Steve says AI removes the need for expensive wire rigs, blue screens and stages, and lets filmmakers who could never get a $300 million budget tell stories without limits. — 00:28:34
  • ★ a guest: A guest calls Hell Grind amazing and its five directors, who made it with AI, the new Lumière of the 21st century. (overstated) — 00:28:34 · Hell Grind
  • ★★ Steve says there are a few things he would change in Hell Grind, which he has already recommended, but calls it an unbelievable film and making it in two weeks mind-blowing. — 00:29:17 · Hell Grind
  • ★★ Steve says AI will not suddenly produce hundreds of amazing films, but it opens many doors for the talented few with a vision and a story to tell. — 00:29:41
  • ★★ Steve says filmmakers using AI no longer have to go around the Cannes market begging for co-production funds and complicated structures. — 00:30:08
  • ★★★ Steve says Hell Grind could hold up in a theatrical release in the US and can already compete. — 00:30:08 · Hell Grind
  • ★★ Steve says that six months from now someone could make a film like Hell Grind and close the gap even more. (hedged) — 00:30:08 · Hell Grind
  • ★★ a guest: A guest says he was astonished by Hell Grind's screening, calls it a historic moment and the first step towards AI producing films for festivals. — 00:30:36 · Hell Grind

00:31:39 — Adil's reflections and outro

  • ★★ Adil says many professionals are already adopting AI in their workflows, from indie filmmakers making fully AI films to big studios using it in hybrid workflows. — 00:32:19

In the description and comments

  • ★★ Higgsfield says 15 filmmakers built Hell Grind, a 95-minute action-fantasy feature film, in 14 days entirely with Higgsfield, and premiered it in Cannes. — video description · Hell Grind, Higgsfield AI
  • ★★★ Higgsfield says its built-in Upscale tool goes up to 4K and was used for the final output of Hell Grind. — creator comment · Higgsfield Upscale, Hell Grind
  • ★★ Higgsfield: Asked for a vlog from LA or New York, Higgsfield answers that one is coming soon. — creator comment

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Hell Grind

Also: People: Chuck Russell · Claude Lelouch · Darren Aronofsky · Eric · Peter Jackson · Phedon Papamichael · Shahar Stroh · Steve · Stéphane Davy

Projects: Higgsfield Originals

Works: The Mandalorian

Organizations: Cine 613 · Cinema Vault · Moonstone Entertainment · YouTube

Products: Cinema Studio · Kling · Seedance · Soul ID · Unreal Engine

Only in the description or credits: Cannes Film Festival · Cannes Film Market · Higgsfield Upscale · The Mask

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