Winners of the "72-Hour Filmmaking Hackathon", the highlight of the Lenovo AI Film Season, receiving their awards in Sanya, Hainan province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Traditionally, filmmaking is a process that could take years. However, in today's digital era, the unprecedented rise of artificial intelligence is compressing that timeline, allowing a micro-short film to be created in just one or two days.

This shift was on display during the recently concluded Lenovo AI Film Season, held as part of the 7th Hainan Island International Film Festival.

The highlight of the event was the "72-Hour Filmmaking Hackathon", an AI-based filmmaking competition structured as an intense, two-round contest.

Of 105 teams from around the world, 10 were shortlisted. In the first round, each team had just 24 hours to create a micro-short film while incorporating three required keywords: refrigerator, messenger, and action.

The advancing teams were then regrouped into five new crews for the final round. Their task was to produce another micro-short film based on the keyword "World Cup" within a tight 36-hour deadline.

AI creation has inspired artists, as evidenced by an AI electronic music party held as part of the Lenovo AI Film Season. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

World Cup 2026, created by a four-member team, won the top Jury's Choice Award, while three other awards went to A Letter from the Earth, The Champion, and The Best of Times.

Zhang Huawei, a representative of the executive committee at the Hainan Island International Film Festival, pointed out that the wave of technological innovation driven by artificial intelligence is reshaping the entire process of image creation with unprecedented depth and breadth. He emphasized that "the soul of technology and the warmth of humanism are always the fundamental elements that make films truly moving."