# BRIDGES

AI-made. Made with AI, as its festival says: “The 2026 edition of the Artefact AI Film Festival — an international competition for short films made with generative AI, organised by Artefact with mk2.” ([its page](https://artefact-ai-film-festival.com/), read 2026-11-12).

By Yevhen Fedorov, as [Artefact AI Film Festival](https://artefact-ai-film-festival.com/gallery) names them.

On a bright tropical island a boy lives alone, inventing games and imaginary friends — he is happy, but there is no one to share that happiness with. When he sees a girl on the neighbouring island, absorbed in her own reflection, he falls in love and begins to build a bridge toward her. Every attempt collapses, and with each one he gives more: he dismantles his own castle, fells his palms, strips his island bare. When the girl carelessly drops a few rotten twigs on her shore, he takes it for reciprocity and builds more desperately still — but the bridge falls for the last time, and she walks away without looking back. Spent, the colour drained from his eyes, he sees a new girl smiling and waving at him from another shore — he tries to get up, and cannot. The camera rises over hundreds of islands and hundreds of bridges: the fragile ones fall, while those built from both sides meet in the middle.

Plays in YouTube's player, on YouTube, by the link its maker gave the festival: [watch it there](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI2PunSVIvI).