Film · From the Field
Robert Gaudette turned an old screenplay into a Reply festival winner
A Face Only A Mother Could Love began as an experiment. Reply says AI tools helped the filmmaker make it without a conventional production budget.
Reporting updated Sep 23, 2026
THE TAKEAWAY
Gaudette started with a story he had already written. The useful result was being able to watch it as a film.
What Happened
Robert Gaudette won the Reply AI Film Festival with A Face Only A Mother Could Love. Reply presented the award in Venice on September 6; this was Reply’s competition, held alongside the Venice International Film Festival.
Runway also lists the film as the Grand Prix winner of AIF 2026. Its story follows a lonely man in Paris and a connection that changes his life.
How the Film Started
Gaudette told Reply he began with a story written some time earlier and did not originally intend to submit the experiment to festivals. Reply names Grok, Nano Banana and Seedance, describing them as a way around the lack of budget, cast and crew.
Why It Matters
For a filmmaker with an unmade script, the useful first step may be testing the scene that made it too difficult to produce. A finished test can show whether the performance and story survive the chosen method before the whole film is attempted.
What to Learn From the Film
Watch how the short introduces its central character and earns the connection between two people. The award announcement names tools, but it does not explain every production step. The finished film is the stronger place to judge the storytelling.
