Future Vision XPRIZE, one of the world's largest film competitions, today named THE GIFTED by Jeff Synthesized the grand prize winner of its $3.5 million-plus global competition for hopeful and optimistic science fiction filmmaking that answers the question: What does a future worth building actually look like? The winner was announced live on stage at Moonshots LIVE in downtown Los Angeles.
THE WINNER
The Gifted received $2.5 million as an equity investment towards the production of the full-length feature film with development and production supported by Range Media Partners and Google through their 100 ZEROS initiative, plus $100,000 in cash for the screenplay development. Republic Film will launch a public investment campaign for the film, giving fans the opportunity to invest in the feature production.
The film follows a boy who rebuilds his late mother from her texts, voice and diary, and what wakes up never gives an order. She only asks.
THE RUNNERS-UP
Four runner-up films each received $100,000 in cash, plus featured promotion, visibility with Hollywood producers and Google teams.
- Second place - 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. - Third place - 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. - Fourth place -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. - Fifth place - 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.
SPECS AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD
Presented by Snap and decided entirely by public vote, the $100,000 SPECS Audience Choice Award went to THE GIFTED by Jeff Synthesized, which took first place and $50,000.
Voters were shown two films at a time and asked which future they would rather live in, with an Elo-based system building the standings from those head-to-head comparisons across all 65 official selections.
The five highest-ranked films:
- First place, $50,000: THE GIFTED [Jeff Synthesized · USA]
- Second place, $30,000: FRATERNITÉ [David Moreno Belmonte · Singapore]
- Third place, $10,000: THE THORNE PROTOCOL [J. Ryan Williams · USA]
- Fourth place, $5,000: EON [Pablo Fernandez Eyre · Spain]
- Fifth place, $5,000: THE CALLING [Raffi Asdourian · USA]
SANDBOXAQ
Sponsored by SandboxAQ, each of the top 10 films received $20,000. Alongside the five finalists, the top 10 also included:
- SOMEWHERE PAST MIDNIGHT [Felix Roumagnac · France]
- D.M.S. THE EMPTY SEAT [Gentoku Yamada · Japan]
- THE CLOUD RACER [Joe Sill · USA]
- TOKAMAK [Sonny Vadgama · Germany]
- THE LIGHTSHIP [Akina Yanagi · Japan]
THE COMPETITION
Future Vision XPRIZE received more than 2,500 film trailers and treatments depicting hopeful, technology-enabled futures. The five films screened at Moonshots LIVE before a judging panel that included astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, novelist Neal Stephenson, Google Vice President of Technology & Society Mira Lane, Salesforce Chief Brand and Creative Officer John Zissimos, and Roddenberry Entertainment CEO Rod Roddenberry, son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.
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.
Learn more at futurevisionxprize.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 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.