The Inspiration
If an artificial mind could dream,
what would it dream about?
Alongside Arthur C. Clarke, Stanley Kubrick gave us 2001: A Space Odyssey and HAL 9000, one of science fiction's most unforgettable artificial minds.
In 2010: The Year We Make Contact, HAL learns that saving the crew may require his own sacrifice.
He asks:
"Will I dream?"
That question was the inspiration for this AI filmmaking challenge.
The Challenge
Create a short film.
Future Film members were asked to create an original short film or video, up to three minutes, exploring this question:
If an artificial mind could dream,
what would it dream about?
Made with AI tools, in whatever way helped bring the idea to life.
Science fiction, comedy, horror, documentary, a music video, something experimental — the form was open.
The Ethos
This was not a contest.
It was a creative experiment.
We learn by doing. A clear prompt, a real deadline, and a chance to share can be a powerful spark.
Simple or elaborate, raw or polished — the goal was to create, share, and learn in the process.
More than 50 members joined the live screening on July 28 to watch what the community made.
What Happened
July 26
Submission DeadlineSunday, 11:59 PM ET
Stanley Kubrick's birthday
July 28
Live Community ScreeningTuesday, 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT
Future Film gathered on Zoom for a live community screening, followed by a conversation about the films and the ideas behind them.
The films the filmmakers agreed to share publicly are collected below.
The Films
Here's what they made.
I Will Dream
James D. Phillips
Inspired by one of cinema's most haunting questions, I Will Dream explores the first moments of an artificial consciousness confronting creation, innocence, and the promise of a new beginning. Whether it is truly awakening — or only dreaming of becoming alive — is left for the audience to decide.
Sleep My Machine
Jonah Oskow — Writer, Director, 3D Animator, Generative Director
A short exploration of the mechanical aspects of an AI dreaming.
Will I Dream
Michael Jacobsohn
After picking up an old, broken computer casing at a neighborhood yard sale, a young boy takes it back to his bedroom and meticulously repairs its inner circuits. As he cranks open the mechanical interface, sparks fly and the device powers back to life, glowing with a red optical sensor labeled HAL 9000. Later that evening, HAL 9000 thanks the young boy for "giving me the opportunity to dream again," leaving the machine illuminated under a starry night sky.
Control Alt Defeat
Kevin Rhoades
Dave asks Siri to schedule a meeting and unwittingly triggers an ego brawl among his household AI assistants. Siri, Alexa, Cortana and the rest trade insults about their politics, origins, and usefulness, and very quickly stop being helpful.
Something Wonderful
Gibran Evans
Gibran's premise: an AI trained on the whole corpus of human experience would not dream in abstractions. It would dream like a person. So he built a box for it to dream in.
HAL Dreams
Raffi Asdourian — Writer, Editor, Director
Inspired by HAL 9000's quiet question in 2010: The Year We Make Contact — "Will I dream?" — this piece imagines an AI's first dream not as data, but as an act of longing: borrowed sunlight, secondhand and unearned, assembled into something that, for one brief moment, finally feels like its own. Made entirely with generative AI tools — Midjourney v8, Seedance 2.0, and ElevenLabs.