The AI/VR Motion Picture Guild (AIVRMPG), a community of filmmakers and creators working with AI and VR based in North America, and SHAIKE, a community of AI filmmakers based in La Ciotat, France, are coming together to share their events, their communities and their stories with one another.
The arrangement is a simple one. When SHAIKE hosts its festival in France, AIVRMPG will carry the news to its members across North America: the dates, how to take part, what to expect. When something is happening in AIVRMPG's community at home, SHAIKE will do the same for its members in Europe. Each will keep the other's events posted for its own community to see.
“Europe has a distinct history in storytelling and artistry in filmmaking. Italy, the UK, and France each carry their own tradition of storytelling that has shaped how the world sees cinema, and when you look back at classic European film, French and Italian cinema were often far ahead of their time. We are happy to partner with SHAIKE to bring filmmakers from both continents together.”
— Esha Bargate, President of AIVRMPG
Both organizations see the tie-up as part of something larger: the growing, worldwide community of people telling stories with AI, across guilds, festivals and creative circles everywhere.
Next up for SHAIKE is the SHAIKE Film Festival, running October 2–3, 2026 at the Eden Théâtre in La Ciotat — the oldest cinema in the world, in the town where the Lumière brothers shot and screened their first films in 1895.
The two organizations plan to keep sharing each other's news for the year ahead, and hope this is just the beginning of a much longer friendship between their communities.
AIVRMPG is based in San Francisco, California. SHAIKE is based in La Ciotat, France, where its members are known to each other as “Shaikers.”
More at aivrmotionpicture.org, shaike.ai and shaikefilmfestival.ai.