Google Flow and Women in Film India launch Filmathon, with top five AI-made films headed to IFFI Goa 2026

MUMBAI: Lights, camera, algorithm. Google Flow has teamed up with Women in Film India, the body led by Guneet Monga Kapoor, to put AI in the hands of Indian storytellers and a spot at IFFI Goa 2026 within their reach. The two have launched the WIF India × Google Flow Filmathon, a new creative opportunity for filmmakers and storytellers to explore the intersection of cinema, creativity and emerging technology. The announcement was made in Mumbai on October 6, 2026.

The joint initiative invites emerging and established storytellers to explore AI-powered filmmaking with Google Flow and put their creative stories on screen. Participants will experiment with AI-assisted filmmaking, developing original ideas, exploring new visual possibilities and discovering new ways to bring their stories to life. It is designed for filmmakers to learn, create, take risks and see how new tools can push their craft further.

The toolkit is serious. Google Flow operates as a comprehensive workspace built on Google’s advanced Gemini Omni and Veo models, and offers filmmakers an intuitive canvas to arrange scenes, batch edit clips and layer audio.

The brief is open to all. The initiative will bring together filmmakers at different stages of their journey, from people beginning to explore visual storytelling to established creatives looking to try something new. Through the programme, participants will have the opportunity to learn, experiment and create, and to bring their cinematic visions to life.

The prize is a big screen. The selected top five films will be showcased at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa in 2026, bringing the initiative into conversation with India’s wider filmmaking community. It is an opportunity for filmmakers to move from experiment to screen, and for audiences and the film industry to see how new tools are being used by storytellers in India.

Guneet Monga Kapoor, founder and chief executive officer, WIF India, says the idea is to give filmmakers room to play. “WIF India is excited to create Filmathon with Google Flow because it gives filmmakers a real space to experiment,” she says. “There is so much talent and so many stories waiting to be explored. We want to encourage filmmakers to stay curious, try new things and see where their ideas can go when they have access to a new creative tool. We are really looking forward to seeing the films that come from this.”

Google is just as keen. “Google Flow is already gaining remarkable momentum in India,” says Arathi Sethumadhavan, director, international activations and product insights, technology and society, Google. “Through the Filmathon, in collaboration with WIF India, we can’t wait to see the short films storytellers across the country bring to life, and how they expand the boundaries of artistic expression through this technology.”

Rabia Chopra, head of programming and strategy, WIF India, keeps the focus on the storyteller. “Our collaboration with Google Flow gives filmmakers access to a new creative studio while keeping the most important part of filmmaking where it belongs: with the storyteller and the story,” she says. “We are excited to see what filmmakers across the country create.”

Both sides see a larger purpose. For WIF India, the initiative continues its work towards creating more access and meaningful opportunities for filmmakers through new platforms and partnerships. For Google, it is part of an ongoing commitment to support creators with tools that are personal, inventive and deeply rooted in helping them to tell their own stories.

The analysis is simple. Technology has usually reached cinema through the studio gate. This time it arrives through a call for entries open to beginners and veterans alike, with a festival slot as the reward. If the top five films deliver, Goa could be where Indian audiences first see how AI and a good story work together.