From Apple TV Creative to AI Filmmaker: Hoyt Dwyer’s Animated Film To Compete at AI FilmFest Japan 2025

Hoyt Dwyer’s AI-animated short, blending 1930s animation with tools like ComfyUI and Google Veo, has been selected for the AI Film Festival Japan 2025, standing out as the sole U.S. film in its category. 

• Pexote Jack: Ohio! , a groundbreaking AI-animated short by filmmaker Hoyt Dwyer, has been officially selected to compete at the AI Film Festival Japan (AIFJ) 2025. The selection marks a milestone for Dwyer – a former Apple TV creative now pioneering storytelling at the intersection of classic animation and artificial intelligence – and stands out as the only U.S. film in the animation category.

TOKYO, Oct. 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Now in its inaugural year, AI FilmFest Japan showcases the world’s leading experiments in AI-assisted cinema, bringing together filmmakers, researchers, and technologists from over a dozen countries. The festival explores how machine learning is reshaping visual storytelling and highlights artists who integrate algorithmic processes into narrative film.

“Japan has always set the global standard for what animation can be… emotionally, artistically, and philosophically,” reflects Dwyer. “Having an AI-driven short like Pexote Jack: Ohio! acknowledged there feels like a bridge between the old magic of hand-drawn storytelling and the new frontier of machine-assisted creation.”

Blending the expressive charm of 1930s rubber-hose cartoons with next-generation tools such as ComfyUI, Google Veo, Eleven Labs, and Topaz Labs, Pexote Jack: Ohio! reimagines vintage animation through the lens of algorithmic creation.

“My goal was to explore what happens when vintage animation is conjured up from the machine,” says Dwyer. “Pexote Jack is both a love letter to early Hollywood cartoons, and a gigantic question mark about where human creativity goes next.”

Before entering independent film, Dwyer spent years crafting campaigns for Apple TV and other global brands, earning honors at Cannes Lions, Clio Awards, AICP, and Communication Arts. His transition from award-winning commercial work to AI-driven filmmaking reflects a broader shift toward artists bypassing traditional gatekeepers to create permissionless work.

Pexote Jack: Ohio! follows the existential misadventures of a 1930s cartoon jackalope navigating Hollywood’s collision with Big Tech. The film screens in Tokyo this weekend as part of the AIFJ 2025 competition, celebrating global innovation in AI-assisted cinema.

For more information on Hoyt Dwyer’s films, visit www.hoytdwyer.com.

ABOUT AI FILMFEST JAPAN
AI FilmFest Japan 2025 is an international showcase dedicated to exploring creative frontiers in artificial-intelligence-driven filmmaking. Founded in Tokyo, the festival features narrative, documentary, and experimental works produced with AI tools and aims to foster dialogue between technologists and traditional filmmakers.

ABOUT ANoNMI
Pexote Jack: Ohio! is produced by ANoNMI. ANoNMI is a creative studio focused on experimental storytelling at the intersection of cinema and artificial intelligence. Based in Atlanta, ANoNMI develops original IP and collaborates with artists and brands exploring new forms of narrative expression.

ABOUT HOYT DWYER
Hoyt Dwyer is an American filmmaker and creative director whose work spans entertainment, advertising, animation, and emerging AI cinema. His career includes award-winning campaigns for Fortune 500 brands, and his films explore the intersection of technology, nostalgia, and identity.

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SOURCE ANoNMI