• Zoubeir Jlassi won the first Google AI Film Award at the 1 Billion Followers Summit in Dubai.
• The short film Lily used generative AI across characters, animation, narration, and post-production.
• The Google-backed award carries a $1 million prize and drew nearly 3,500 entries from over 100 countries.

Born and trained in Tunisia, Zoubeir Jlassi works as an artistic director, motion designer, and filmmaker. He recently gained international recognition with his short film Lily, which earned him the first Google AI Film Award at the 1 Billion Followers Summit, held in Dubai from Friday January 9 to Sunday January 11.

Running approximately nine minutes, Lily follows the story of an archivist haunted by a doll linked to an accident for which he bears responsibility. Jlassi created the film entirely through a combination of advanced generative artificial intelligence tools. These tools supported character and environment creation, AI-assisted animation and motion synthesis, machine-learning-based visual storytelling, and AI-optimized post-production workflows.

Through this technological framework, the short film examined the ability of generative models to convey complex emotions such as guilt and redemption while maintaining visual coherence aligned with studio cinema standards. Lily won the Google AI Film Award after competing against nearly 3,500 films from more than 100 countries. Google Gemini backed the prize, which carries an award value of $1 million.

Jlassi currently serves as artistic director at Carthage+ TV, a private Tunisian general-interest television channel targeting Arabic-speaking audiences. He graduated from the Higher School of Design Sciences and Technologies, where he earned a national degree in arts and design professions in 2009.

This article was initially published in French by Melchior Koba

Adapted in English by Ange Jason Quenum