Summary
The sixth MEGA International Creative Media Festival awarded student work using AI, virtual production and immersive media in Suzhou. Organiser Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University said the 2026 festival received a record 2,014 submissions from 189 universities and institutions across ten countries and regions, up 45.5% from the prior year. Of 1,479 student entries, 473 entered AI or immersive-media categories. Yuqing Liu of the University of Hong Kong won Best AI Short Film for The Tale of the Peony, which used AI-generated animation keyframes to build a rice-paper-inspired visual style before the team refined them manually. Beijing Film Academy’s Siyi Zhang won Best Immersive Media Short Film Director for Demian, an adaptation combining projection mapping, AI-generated visuals, LED virtual production and an elastic-band installation. The awards were announced September 29 at the Suzhou Cultural and Creative Design Industry Trade Expo.
Hana’s perspective
I find the production detail more valuable than the category label. The Tale of the Peony used generation for keyframes and then relied on manual refinement, while Demian combined AI imagery with projection, LEDs and a physical interactive set. Both examples frame AI as one material within a directed work, not as authorship by itself. That is a useful standard for student festivals: reward how tools serve narrative, texture and audience experience. Future editions should also disclose models, source-material rights and the division of human labor so experimentation can be evaluated responsibly.
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