The Hindi film industry keeps flirting with new technology, but this week the experiment moved from individual tinkering to an organised stage. Women in Film India (WIF India) and Google Flow have launched the WIF India × Google Flow Filmathon, a short-film initiative that invites filmmakers and storytellers to build projects with AI-assisted tools.
At the centre is Google Flow, a workspace built on Google’s Gemini Omni and Veo models. It gives creators a visual canvas to arrange scenes, edit clips in batches and layer audio. The pitch is simple: use the tool as a creative studio, while the story stays in the filmmaker’s hands.
What the Filmathon offers
WIF India describes the programme as a room to experiment rather than a training course. It is open to people at different stages, from newcomers exploring visual storytelling to established creators wanting to try something new.
- Participants get access to Google Flow’s AI-assisted filmmaking workspace.
- They can develop original ideas, explore visual possibilities and test new techniques.
- The top five short films will be screened at IFFI Goa in 2026.
Why the IFFI stage matters
The prize is not a trophy; it is a screening at the International Film Festival of India in Goa in 2026. For a first-time experiment, that puts AI-assisted shorts in front of programmers, producers and audiences who shape what Hindi cinema tries next.
Guneet Monga Kapoor, Founder and CEO of WIF India, framed the programme as a safe place to take risks. “We want to encourage filmmakers to stay curious, try new things and see where their ideas can go when they have access to a new creative tool,” she said.
Rabia Chopra, WIF India’s Head of Programming and Strategy, added that the collaboration keeps “the most important part of filmmaking where it belongs: with the storyteller and the story.”
What creators should do now
The announcement is still light on application dates, entry numbers and production support. If this sounds like your lane, treat the next few weeks as a research sprint.
First, follow WIF India’s official announcements for the application window. Second, spend time with Google Flow’s public tutorials to understand its scene-arranging, batch-edit and audio-layering workflow before you commit to an idea. Third, plan a story that genuinely benefits from the tool, not one that leans on the tool as a gimmick.
The bigger picture
For Google, the Filmathon is part of an ongoing push to give creators tools that are personal and inventive. For WIF India, it continues work to create access and meaningful opportunities through new platforms. It also arrives at a moment when Indian filmmakers are asking practical questions about whether AI helps them move faster or just changes the craft.
What we cannot yet say is who judges the films, how many entries will be accepted, or whether the top five get any production support beyond the screening. Those details matter before anyone invests a month of evenings into a shoot.
For now, the headline is clear: an Indian industry body and a major tech platform are putting AI-assisted filmmaking into a public, competitive format with a national festival platform at the end.
Source: bollywoodHungama.com