Case study
Soulscape 2026 was a three-day global AI film summit at KQED in San Francisco: a thousand attendees downstairs, two hundred filmmakers locked into a 48-hour Cinema Lab upstairs, and thirty-nine finished films at the end of it. Oscar winners and Hollywood executives took the stage; the event was covered by The Hollywood Reporter and KTVU Fox 2.
The deeper read
The case study explains how the room was built. The companion story goes further into what was said, what changed, and what other founders and operators can use.
8 min read
Three days at KQED San Francisco. A thousand attendees, two hundred filmmakers, thirty-nine films made in 48 hours. Notes from producing Soulscape 2026 — and what the room said afterwards.
Read the guideOur founder Toronto served as Event Producer of Soulscape 2026, designing and executing the three-day Summit & Hackathon at KQED San Francisco.
The room included a jury chaired by John Gaeta (The Matrix), execs from Paramount, Warner Bros., and Sony, and builders from OpenAI, Gemini, and MiniMax.
Jurors, guests, and winning creators posted publicly about the event — the original LinkedIn posts are quoted and linked below.
attendees across three days
applications for the room
filmmakers in the Cinema Lab
films made in 48 hours
Three days at KQED San Francisco, running a public summit downstairs and a closed 48-hour Cinema Lab upstairs at the same time.
Two hundred filmmakers selected from over two thousand applications, shipping thirty-nine finished films inside the lab window.
Oscar winners and Hollywood executives on the main stage, programmed alongside the AI tooling teams the films were made with.
Press coverage from The Hollywood Reporter and KTVU Fox 2.
Photos
After the room
Public posts from people who were there. Each card opens the original LinkedIn.
“When we envisioned Soulscape, we didn't just want to host another tech conference or film festival. We wanted to build a unified ecosystem — a new narrative infrastructure (think a16z meets A24).”
Keith Zhang · Founder, Soulscape
View the original post“AI is democratizing the creation of cinema, but it cannot democratize the soul of cinema. That belongs to us. If we allow algorithms to dictate our narratives, we lose the very thing that connects us. Soulscape is the counter-movement. Soul over Slop.”
Keith Zhang · Founder, Soulscape
View the original post“Stop generating frames. Start building worlds.”
John Gaeta · Founding Chair, Soulscape 2026
View the original post“Script → pipeline → 18 shots → edit → 3-minute short → Top 5 Best Film. In 48 hours. AI cinema is not about rendering. It is about intent. My intent, story, voice, cut, carried this film.”
Saloni Patel · AI filmmaker · Top 5 Best Film, Soulscape 2026 Cinema Lab
View the original postPress
The Hollywood Reporter · KTVU Fox 2
Tell us who you need to meet and what the night has to do for your company — we design, curate, and run it end to end.