Ainhoa Barrio

Ainhoa writes and directs short films and spec commercials, produced with AI tools.

The page came before the camera. She started as a journalist, wrote and produced a documentary for Sky Sports, and worked in production in Barcelona, London and New York as a production manager, coordinator and script supervisor while writing and directing her own shorts. In 2026 she moved her filmmaking into AI production. The method is the one she learnt on set, only faster: the script comes first, every frame is designed as a photograph before it moves, and the performance is directed into the still before it is animated.

Young as the Stars won the Fully Focused × CapCut AI Film Competition 2026, Toys took bronze at the IPVISE AI Film Competition 2026, and both Young as the Stars and the Easterland trailer were official selections at the Glitch Warsaw Awards 2026.

Still from Young as the Stars
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young as the stars

Short film · 2:06 · 2026

We are energy, and when we die that energy becomes something else. A film about an ending that isn't one.

Winner · Fully Focused × CapCut AI Film Competition 2026
Official selection · Glitch Warsaw Awards 2026

Still from Toys
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toys

Short film · 2:03 · 2026

A five-year-old whispers a wish to her teddy bear. The voice assistant mishears it as a command and offers to make her imaginary friends real. She designs them out loud, beats the payment face-scan with her sleeping mother, and in the morning a box arrives.

Bronze · IPVISE AI Film Competition 2026

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easterland

Series trailer · 1:13 · 2026 · series in development

Six fifteen-minute episodes of adult animation about a community after industry leaves and addiction moves in. Painterly, oil-paint-in-motion, and built for AI animation from the first frame. Read about the series.

Official selection · Glitch Warsaw Awards 2026

Still from The Children of Mist
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the children of mist

Spec commercial · 1:38 · 2026

Heritage, family and the passage of time through a Scottish lens: modern anxiety against a timeless emotional truth, and the imperfections that make a story worth passing down.

Still from Coconut Nut: Share the Madness
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coconut nut

Spec commercial · 1:04 · 2026

Share the Madness. A spec ad for a fictional product: Wes Anderson symmetry and palette, and a Hitchcock dolly zoom.

Still from Saturday Night Hanger
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saturday night hanger

Short film · 1:18 · 2026

[Ainhoa: one line about this film goes here.]