By A. Austin

December in the Richmond District is a month of holiday celebration, shopping and local film screenings. The Balboa Theater has hosted the independent film festival, Another Hole in the Head, for 22 years. The festival ran throughout the month of December at the theater.

Although the festival’s schedule features predominantly science fiction, fantasy and horror/slasher films, it has begun to open up its schedule to all genres. As of this year, that also means films including content made partially or entirely from generative artificial intelligence (A.I.).

George Kaskanlian manages the festival and has been switching things up for the last eight years. In addition to the more than 120 short films and 16 feature-length films from 2025, there were also eight classic film screenings, including movies on 18 mm film and VHS, “just to give it a little spectrum,” he said. Topics spanned from interstellar travel to experimental body horror. Mediums included 2D and 3D animation, live action and A.I. They covered subjects such as immigration, stress, coming-of-age and bad haircuts. Runtimes were between two minutes and two hours.

Regarding criteria for film selection, Kaskanlian said he is “open to anything. If it’s good, it’s good. It doesn’t matter if it’s a romantic comedy or (something else). The fest started out as a horror fest… The horror stuff is cool, but there’s not a big audience for that in San Francisco. So that’s why I decided to put more stuff in, different stuff. And it has been working. We’re getting a lot more people coming. It was averaging 60 to 70 people per screening.” According to Kaskanlian, that fact makes this year one of the most attended of their festivals in recent memory.

This attendance is, in small part, due to controversy. The day of programming on Dec. 15, 2025 was dedicated specifically to films which included elements of A.I. The majority of the films were generated entirely by A.I., including all audio and visuals and one film “(injected) it into a live action film.” Also presented was an A.I.-colorized and -restored screening of “Metropolis,” a 1927 film originally released in black and white.

This comes as the film industry takes an uneven approach to A.I. methods. Artificial Intelligence has made its way into large-budget studio films. It was used to enhance and alter actors’ voices in multiple Oscar winning films like “The Brutalist” (2024) and “Emilia Perez” (2024). Imagery created using A.I. was incorporated into 2023’s “Late Night with the Devil,” and de-aged Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in “Here” (2024). These instances sparked controversy among film makers and film goers alike. Many decry the technology for taking jobs. Institutions like the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) have negotiated protections for their workers, like rights to their own name, voice and likeness. At the same time, A.I. film festivals and methods continue to proliferate.

Sentiment is mixed in the local community.

“I knew it was going to be controversial, because a lot of people told me not to do it (and) thought it was a bad idea. Especially filmmakers,” Kaskanlian said. “But (the A.I. day) was great, because like 40 people showed up, a bunch of older people showed up for ‘Metropolis.’ They went in there being negative on it, and they came out saying it’s one of the best experiences they’ve seen, they were surprised how amazing it looked. And the Q&A for the shorts was like a half hour. The audience members were really participating, having a discussion with the filmmakers. It was one of my favorite screenings.”

During the question-and-answer session, the creators of the A.I. selections explained their reasoning for using the technology. Multiple creators cited accessibility and budget, as funding for independent projects can be hard to find. Especially with more ambitious concepts that “(they) could not easily replicate in the real world,” artificial intelligence means unparalleled accessibility.

Rob Thomas, the creator of the short film “Sundial,” said he was exploring a “dialogue about technology and our relationship to it.” So, generating footage via artificial intelligence was a self-referential method that aided him in conveying his message.

“Last year we had three A.I. film submissions, and this year it was 30.” Kaskanlian said.

In response to this demand, however contentious, he is actively organizing another festival that will feature only animation and A.I.-generated content for May, called Warped Dimension. More information will be announced in the coming months.

To learn more about the Another Hole in the Head Film Festival, visit ahith.com.