Anirban Ray 

Muscat  – Filmmakers and technology enthusiasts in Oman are being invited to explore the creative possibilities of artificial intelligence with the launch of the Muscat AI Film Festival (MAIFF), a new initiative combining filmmaking, AI training and competition.

Submissions for the festival are now open through rmz.ai, its founding generative-AI partner.

Unlike traditional film festivals where technology may simply support production, MAIFF requires participating filmmakers to create their entries using the AI platform, which offers tools for developing stories, generating visuals and editing films.

Organisers have announced a total prize purse of OMR 20,000, with OMR 10,000 earmarked for the Best AI Film. Best Art Direction and Best Technological Innovation will each carry a OMR 5,000 prize.

The festival is also positioning itself as a skills-development initiative. Its organisers aim to train more than 1,000 Omanis in AI-assisted filmmaking, while involving between 40 and 60 Omani small and medium enterprises in a dedicated festival village.

Huzaifa Ubaid, Head of Commercial at the event said, “We hope to give the festival an international reach and make Muscat a destination for AI film making along with traditional filmmaking. This is aimed at any creator who wants to explore the new mechanism of AI film making. We are targeting audiences in more than 30 countries and an overall reach of more than 10mn people. The initiative comes as AI-generated and AI-assisted production becomes increasingly accessible to independent filmmakers, potentially reducing the cost and technical barriers involved in creating visual content.”

Speaking about the broader role of AI in filmmaking, Mohammad al Kindi, director of an AI filmmaking workshop organised by the Oman Film Society earlier this year, stressed that technology should not overshadow the creative process. “Creativity remains at the heart of every successful production,” he said.

MAIFF will build on that intersection between human creativity and emerging technology through a programme of workshops and creative laboratories planned for October.

The top five films are scheduled to be screened publicly at VOX Cinemas in November, while the festival’s closing ceremony and awards presentation will take place on January 19, 2027.

For Oman’s growing creative-technology sector, the festival represents an attempt to move the AI conversation beyond training and experimentation and into a tangible creative industry, with locally produced films serving as the end product.