Young Creatives Shine at Kenya’s AI-Powered Smartphone Film Competition

At the 2025 AI-Driven Smartphone Film Competition in Nairobi, Kenya, 85 phone-shot films entered. Winners proved you don’t need a big budget — just vision, a phone, and maybe a little AI magic.

A Festival Where Phones, AI and Youth Meet

This past weekend, Nairobi’s Alliance Française Nairobi — with backing from the local branch of the French Embassy in Kenya — hosted the 10th edition of their smartphone-film festival. This year’s theme: “AI-Driven Storytelling.” For a country where many creative talents are budget-constrained, the festival offered a clean message: your smartphone and some clever software can be enough to create something others will watch. 

The submission pool: a hefty 85 films, all shot and edited on phones, many using AI tools to enhance production — from editing to effects, sound cleanup, or visual polish. Most of the filmmakers are in their 20s. What they might lack in gear, they make up for with ambition and resourcefulness.

The Finalists & The Winners

From that stack of 85, the jury — made up of a creative art director, a digital-investigation journalist, and a creative editor/tech innovator — selected 10 shorts for public screening. The films ranged from tight social-issue pieces to experimental works and gritty urban stories. Titles included Morio & Juliet, The Red Box, Makmende Begins, Karibu Taon and Revenge of the Reject.

When the dust settled:

• First Prize went to Karibu Taon by Ivy Gathoni Wangui — awarded KSh 150,000.

• Second Prize was given to Solomon Wambugu for Revenge of the Reject — with a cash award of KSh 100,000.

• People’s Choice went to Morio & Juliet by Calvin Oyula — winning KSh 75,000.

During the award ceremony, board director Dorothy Ooko encouraged filmmakers not to fear AI — she argued it’s a tool meant to free creativity, not limit it. “Let AI do the heavy lifting,” she said. “Use the time it gives you to focus on your story, your vision.”

Final Word

The 2025 AI-Smartphone Film Competition in Nairobi proves one thing loud and clear: you don’t need a Hollywood budget to make a film that resonates.

All you need is vision, a smartphone, and the guts to tell your story.

And for Africa’s next generation of filmmakers — that might be enough.