LOS ANGELES — September 21, 2026 — Future Vision XPRIZE, the world’s largest film competition with $3.5 million-plus in awards is being offered for hopeful and optimistic science fiction filmmaking. The $2 million Build with Gemini XPRIZE, the world’s largest hackathon, is being awarded to teams who scaled revenues in 90 days for a clean-sheet, AI native business. The XPRIZE today announced the five finalists in both competitions advancing to the on-stage finals on September 25th.
Together, the competitions attracted more than 31,000 filmmakers and builders from around the world.
All ten finalists will present their work at Moonshots LIVE on September 25 in Los Angeles, where the winners of both competitions will be announced.
FUTURE VISION XPRIZE TOP FIVE
Future Vision XPRIZE received more than 2,500 film trailers and treatments depicting hopeful, technology-enabled futures. Range Media Partners screened all submissions, resulting in 65 semi-finalists and the five advancing finalists:
- THORNE PROTOCOL [J. Ryan Williams, USA]
A billionaire's dying gift is a black cube no one can switch on, until a seventeen-year-old rebuilds it on the pattern of a dragonfly's wing.
- NOBODY DIES ON MARS [Verena Puhm, USA]
A chef who tastes nothing and a Martian who feels everything build the friendship holding two species together.
- SENTI [Isen Robbins, USA]
A garage programmer gives an AI memory, senses and freedom, then must determine whether he built a weapon or raised a child.
- THE GIFTED [Jeff Synthesized, USA]
A boy rebuilds his late mother from her texts, voice and diary. What wakes up never gives an order—she only asks.
- SLINGSHOT [Hal Watmough, United Kingdom]
A chronic non-committer signs up for the one commitment with no way back: flying Earth itself out of the solar system.
The five finalist film makers will screen their trailers at Moonshots LIVE before a judging panel that includes astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, novelist Neal Stephenson, Google Vice President of Technology & Society Mira Lane, Chief Brand & Creative Officer Salesforce John Zissimos, and Roddenberry Entertainment CEO Rod Roddenberry (son of Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry).
The winner will have their film made with Range Media Partners and Google through the 100 ZEROS initiative. They will be receiving $2.5 million in production funding plus $100,000 in cash. Each runner-up will receive $100,000. Republic Film will also launch a public investment campaign for the winning film.
Future Vision XPRIZE is made possible by presenting sponsor Salesforce, with support from ARK Invest, SandboxAQ and Xsolla, and by major donors including Jed McCaleb, the Roddenberry Foundation, Christian Angermayer, Sidd Pagidipati, Tom Sansone and Giorgos Tsetis.
BUILD WITH GEMINI XPRIZE TOP FIVE
Build with Gemini XPRIZE gave participants 90 days to launch a clean-sheet, revenue- generating business powered by AI. More than 26,000 builders registered, in sectors including: Education and Human Potential, Entrepreneurship and Job Creation, Small Business Services, Money and Financial Access, and Professional Services Access.
Projects were evaluated on business viability, AI-native operations and category impact. The five finalists are:
- POLYFORK [Lucas Martinic, Germany]
3D assets you can recolor, resize, remix. Each model is a little program, AI-native and fully customizable.
- MYFIXAM [Jane Chukwuyem Odum, Nigeria and USA]
TaskRabbit for Nigeria’s informal artisan economy, where 93% of workers have no way to get paid safely.
- DODOPREP [Naveed Ahmed, United Kingdom and USA]
DodoPrep is an AI-native tutor that transforms any study material into personalized learning, adapts to each learner’s knowledge gaps and progress, and helps every student reach their full potential.
- LAUNCHBRIDGE [Chase Rosen, USA]
AI tool that takes you from a business idea to actually having an LLC, EIN, website and payments set up, all within a single platform in under 72 hours, in the state of Virginia.
- TICIAN CIERRE [José Edgar Peña Ramírez, Mexico]
Recovers VAT credits for Mexican businesses: processes CFDI, assembles the SAT file, and submits every close to a Vertex AI auditor that approves or rejects it with its reasons.
The five finalists will pitch live before judges Cathie Wood, founder and CEO of ARK Invest; Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril Industries; Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga; and Logan Kilpatrick of Google DeepMind, who leads Google AI Studio and the Gemini API.
First place will receive $500,000, second place $200,000, and third through fifth place $100,000 each. The $2 million competition will recognize 25 projects in total, including 15 runner-up awards and five category prizes.
Build with Gemini XPRIZE is presented by Gemini, with support from major donors Dan Martell and Richard Merkin.
MOONSHOTS LIVE
Moonshots LIVE will bring together 1,500 builders, filmmakers and investors at the United Theater and the Belasco in downtown Los Angeles on September 25. The program includes the Build with Gemini XPRIZE pitches, Future Vision XPRIZE film presentations and awards, featured conversations, and an evening reception.
The United Theater will also host the September 24 world premiere of The Sixty-Year Mission: How Star Trek Changed Television and the World. The screening is included with every Moonshots LIVE ticket.
Attendance at Moonshots LIVE is by application. Apply at moonshots.com.
Learn more at futurevisionxprize.com and geminixprize.com.
ABOUT XPRIZE
XPRIZE is the recognized global leader in designing and executing large-scale competitions to solve humanity's greatest challenges. For over 30 years, our unique model has democratized crowd-sourced innovation and scientifically scalable solutions that accelerate a more equitable and abundant future. Donate, learn more, and co-architect a world of abundance with us at xprize.org.
ABOUT BUILD WITH GEMINI XPRIZE
Build with Gemini XPRIZE is a $2M global competition challenging any builder worldwide to launch a clean-sheet, revenue-generating, AI-powered business in 90 days. Presented by XPRIZE, founded by Peter Diamandis, in partnership with Google as presenting technology partner and Devpost as competition administrator,the competition awards $2M across 25 winning projects. Learn more at geminixprize.com.
ABOUT FUTURE VISION XPRIZE
Future Vision XPRIZE is a $3.5M+ global film competition about a future worth building toward. Presented by XPRIZE, founded by Peter Diamandis, the competition partners with Range Media Partners and Google through their 100 ZEROS initiative, and Republic Film to bring the winning film to life.Learn more at futurevisionxprize.com
ABOUT MOONSHOTS
Moonshots is a podcast focused on AI and exponential tech, delivering twice-per week updates on the Singularity. Moonshots LIVE 2026 is the inaugural in-person event, described as the “Oscars for Optimists”. The event gathers entrepreneurs, builders and creators who are focused on steering the future towards a positive outcome for humanity. The Moonshot Mates include David Blundin, Alex Wissner-Gross, Salim Ismail and Peter Diamandis.