A deeply personal story inspired by a grandmother's battle with Alzheimer's disease has earned Sudanese filmmaker Saif Eldin Hamza international recognition at the UN AI for Good Film Festival 2026.
Hamza and Egyptian creative producer Omar El Naggar won the PixVerse Special Prize for Another Day, an AI-generated short film that explores memory, identity, trauma and the quiet emotional burden of caring for someone living with Alzheimer's.
Presented during the UN AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, the award came after the festival received thousands of submissions from around the world, with only 10 films making the final shortlist.
The award-winning film plot 'Another Day' follows the story of Souad, a woman living with Alzheimer's whose fading memories blur the boundaries between the past and present.
Lived experiences
Four years ago, Hamza’s grandmother, who had raised him, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
"I witnessed how the disease slowly changed her and changed all of our lives as a family," Hamza told PixVerse. "I made this film for her and for everyone who has a loved one living with Alzheimer's because it is a difficult disease that requires patience, compassion and constant care. This film is my tribute to her."
The filmmakers created the project entirely using artificial intelligence video-generation tools, but Hamza says the technology was never intended to overshadow the story.
Instead, he and El Naggar approached the production much like a traditional film, focusing on character performance, visual continuity and emotional storytelling while adapting those elements to AI-driven workflows.
"AI completely changed the way we think about filmmaking," Hamza said. "The biggest challenge is not generating beautiful images but maintaining a consistent cinematic world where the characters, lighting, performances and emotional reactions remain coherent from one scene to another."
Understanding Alzheimers
Despite the technological innovation behind the film, Hamza hopes audiences leave with a greater understanding of the disease itself.
"I hope audiences leave the film with a deeper understanding that Alzheimer's is far more than memory loss," he said. "It slowly changes a person's identity and affects everyone around them. Those living with Alzheimer's need our patience, our love and our understanding more than anything else."
The recognition marks an important milestone for the Sudanese filmmaker, who believes AI can expand opportunities for storytellers without replacing the emotional core of filmmaking.
"For both Omar and me, this recognition is a moment of genuine gratitude and pride," Hamza said. "We share the same vision of proving that AI films can carry powerful human stories and meaningful emotions, just like any traditional film."
