Dragon Gate - AI Filmmaking Hackathon

What are we doing?! We're taking over DG717 for one Sunday and turning the entire ground floor into an AI filmmaking lab. Here's the format. There are hundreds of manga books sitting inside the space. You walk in, pick a book, pick a chapter, and you have three hours to turn it into an AI film. Any tool you want. Image gen, video gen, voice, music, sound, editing, whatever gets you there. This is not a hackathon where people sit around building software. It's a room full of creative people, a great piece of source material, and the best AI filmmaking tools available, for three hours. At the end, we screen every film. And we pick the best one. The winning team gets a one month opportunity to work with Kodansha USA. What to expect A full manga library set up and ready to goA hard three hour clock, from pick to final cutBring a laptopA live screening the moment the clock runs outA shot at a one month collab with Kodansha USA P.S: this isn't for total beginners. If you've spent real time in Midjourney, Runway, Kling, Veo, or ElevenLabs, this is for you. If you haven't but you have taste, apply anyway. The day 11:30 AM: Arrival Food, coffee, drinks. Meet the other filmmakers before the clock starts. The manga library is already set up, come early and start browsing. 12:00 PM: Competition starts Pick your manga. Pick your chapter or scene. The second you pick it, your three hours begin. 12:00 - 3:00 PM: Production Every participant gets a desk, power, and a desk lamp. The ground floor becomes a production floor. Shoot, generate, edit, score, finish. 3:00 PM: Clock stops Submissions close. The space flips from studio to screening room. 3:30 PM: Screening + Awards We watch every film together. Creators talk through what they made and how. Then the jury picks a winner. What are you actually being judged on? Not just "does this look cool." We're looking for: Story: did you pick and interpret the source material wellDirection: is there a clear point of view hereVisuals: does it look goodEffects: did you use AI to do something that would've been genuinely hard to pull off otherwiseCharacter: do the characters hold together across the filmSound: does the music, voice, and sound design earn their placeEditing: is the pacing rightOriginality: did you do something interesting with the source, not just the obvious take And the real question underneath all of it: does it actually feel like a film? We're not trying to find whoever can generate the single coolest shot. We're trying to find whoever can use these tools to tell the best story. The vibe Think Japanese design meets manga meets Tokyo meets AI meets cinema. Paper, typography, lighting, desk lamps, screens, projections. Walk in and you should immediately know this isn't a normal hackathon. It should feel like a Japanese creative studio, dropped into the future. Getting in Spots are limited to keep the room small and the work good. Apply through this page and we'll follow up with the details once you're confirmed. Who's behind this LocalhostHQ runs media and tech labs around the world, spaces where filmmakers, technologists, and designers come together to make things that push culture forward.DG717 / Digital Garage is hosting us in San Francisco, bringing decades of Japanese innovation history into the room.