An independent film festival celebrating the new voices and tools of cinema.

Joshua Harvey, better known as Voidstomper, is the reason half the AI videos on your feed look the way they do. His formula of taking the cultural moment and warping it with dark humor, gore, and surrealism is so distinct that Dazed coined a term for it: "AI horrorcore," a style now copied by countless creators. Between his two universes, Voidstomper for surreal horror and Gloomstomper for "interdimensional dark fantasy", he has racked up billions of views across more than 8 million combined followers. Daring Creatives called him possibly "the most-followed AI-native visual artist in the world right now," and it's hard to argue with that after years of viral hits. At Lumara, he's judging with the eye of someone who built the aesthetic half the AI video space already runs on.

Zack London (aka gossipgoblin) is a writer, illustrator, and, some would claim, some kind of new-age filmmaker (the press would even go so far as to say he's the "George Lucas of AI"). He is also the founder of Gossip Goblin Inc., a myth-making studio building expansive serialized universes for the modern era. His work blends fantasy, sci-fi, and alt-history into narrative-rich worlds that are scripted by the human brain, curated through taste and vision, voiced and scored by real actors & musicians, and rendered by marvelous and terrifying new technologies.

Chris White is an executive producer on BACKROOMS, the A24 hit horror film born from Kane Parsons' viral YouTube horror series set in endless liminal corridors. It opened to the largest debut in A24 history and has grossed more than $393 million worldwide. White recognized the project's feature potential early and helped turn a viral YouTube series into a massively successful studio feature. A pro creative technologist across film and generative AI, he teaches advanced AI filmmaking at Arcana Academy and develops genre work that mixes traditional filmmaking craft with generative tools. At Lumara, he judges looking for the next generation of filmmakers with singular visions who create bizarre worlds and boundary-pushing horror.

Tyler Bernabe, better known as JBoogxCreative, gets things out of AI models that the people who built them didn't know were in there. Locked character consistency, graphic work the tools were never meant to make, generative video that's driven over 500 million views, and for three years he's been handing out the playbook, publishing his prompt systems and production pipelines to his Patreon community the same week he uses them on paid work. Will Smith, Wu-Tang Clan, Grimes, Coachella, and Microsoft have all tapped him for AI projects, and both Meta AI and a16z have singled him out as a featured creator. He's held creative leadership roles at a16z-backed startups, but his real credential is simpler: when AI creators want to know how something impossible was made, he's usually the one they reach out to. At Lumara, he's judging with the eye of someone who knows exactly where the limits are, because he's the one who moved them.

Heavy Pulp is the AI visual art and filmmaking playground of David Thompson, a director, editor, and VFX artist with deep roots in traditional post production. He directed and edited the feature film OJAI, and his credits include Marvel titles (Black Panther, Venom 2, Ant-Man and the Wasp), music videos for Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, and Travis Scott, and a long run of independent features and documentaries, in roles from VFX artist and film editor to dailies operator and colorist.

Maarten J.N.W. Sündermann is an award-winning director, writer, and creator working across entertainment, art and fashion, with collaborators including A$AP Rocky, Lady Gaga, Tilda Swinton, and Paul McCartney. His creative work has earned 68+ international awards, including Gold at Cannes Lions twice. He started in New York on an MFA film scholarship, assisted the Coppola family, and built a rigorous cinematic foundation that still shapes his work. That craft background now meets AI-driven filmmaking, and at Lumara he judges knowing both sides: traditional cinema and what AI can push further.

Will, aka BLVCKL!GHT, is a Portland based creative technologist, filmmaker, and world builder. He built the Route 47 Universe, 28 interconnected shows with 30 million plus views and his work has been internationally exhibited, has received two Escape Awards, and has been featured in NAKID Magazine and on ITVT's Televisionation. He is a member of West Coast AI Labs, a horizontal artist collective. His approach is handcrafted filmmaking that happens to use AI tools. To him, the models are instruments, not an authority.

Ansem is one of the most influential voices in crypto, prediction markets, and internet finance, shaping narratives across the industry. Co-Founder of Bullpen and Co-Creator & Co-Host of Market Bubble, he's built a following of 1.2M+ on X by identifying emerging trends before the broader market, with insights that regularly influence millions of traders, founders, and investors worldwide. At Lumara, he's judging with the eye of someone who spots what's next before everyone else does.

FaZe Banks is one of the internet's most recognizable personalities and founders of the FaZe movement, having spent over a decade building culture, creating viral moments, and commanding massive audiences. Co-Creator & Co-Host of Market Bubble, his unmatched ability to generate attention and shape online conversation makes him one of the most influential creators in digital media. At Lumara, he's judging with the eye of someone who knows exactly what captures the internet's attention.