I watched a $500K sci-fi thriller starring AI actors. The movie made me feel something real — for a moment.

Higgsfield AI Screens Fully Generated Feature Film "Hell Grind" at Cannes Market Event

Higgsfield AI's 95-minute film "Hell Grind" premiered in May at the Marché du Film in Cannes. The project was produced at a reported cost of approximately $500,000, with the majority of the budget allocated to computing resources. The company, which reached a $1 billion valuation earlier this year, presented the film as a demonstration of generative AI capabilities beyond short-form video.

The movie uses AI-generated visuals throughout. A team of in-house creatives and external filmmakers created the content by entering detailed text prompts, typically around 3,000 words each, to produce roughly 100 hours of footage that was subsequently edited. The script was written without AI assistance except for a small number of short filler sequences. Higgsfield CEO Alex Mashrabov stated that those AI-assisted script segments were less effective than the human-written portions.

At a screening held this week at New York's Metro Private Cinema, the film was shown to attendees. During one sequence, the lead character Roco views a photograph of a kidnapped love interest and recalls shared childhood scenes in an orphanage. Some viewers noted a momentary emotional response before the scene shifted to synchronized laughter by multiple characters with fixed facial expressions. Other sequences drew attention for physical movements that appeared inconsistent, including the handling of objects such as a slice of pizza, and for voice tracks that alternated between accents.

The film features action and science-fiction elements. Reviewers at the event described the visual style as falling between video-game rendering and effects-driven live-action productions. Mashrabov addressed the audience, describing the process as a new workflow that allows iteration on specific emotional beats through repeated AI generation.

Industry context includes ongoing discussions about synthetic performers. SAG-AFTRA recently approved contract language requiring producers to negotiate over the use of AI-generated actors. "Hell Grind" represents one of the more visible examples of a complete feature produced with AI visuals, though generative tools have already appeared in limited post-production roles on other projects.

Mashrabov noted that production costs and creative opportunities vary globally and expressed hope that lower-cost AI tools could expand access for independent creators. The film does not rely on established stars or conventional production infrastructure, instead depending on prompt engineering and editing to assemble the final cut.

Technical observations from the screening included inconsistent rendering of child characters and occasional mismatches between audio and visual performance. These elements interrupted narrative continuity for some attendees. At the same time, the project illustrated current limits and capabilities of text-to-video systems when scaled to feature length.

Further screenings or distribution plans for "Hell Grind" have not been announced. The production serves primarily as a technical showcase for Higgsfield's platform rather than a conventional commercial release.