by FilmInk Staff
A career filmmaker who applied a proprietary generative AI workflow to capture a film no camera could ever reach, Journey AI Studios founder Brett Hardy sees ‘Harbour Frankston’ selected for a national AI film festival and placed in the front running for its People’s Choice Award.
Journey AI Studios, the Mornington Peninsula studio that makes cinematic property films from developers’ existing renders, has been named in the Official Selection of The Australian AI Film Awards for its film Harbour Frankston. The selection places the film in the running for the festival’s People’s Choice Award, decided by a worldwide audience vote that opens on Friday 14 August, ahead of the awards event in Brisbane on 26 August 2026.
The recognition is notable on two counts. It is believed to be the world’s first AI-generated film created as the marketing campaign for a real off-the-plan property development to earn Official Selection at a film festival, and it marks a filmmaker being recognised for finding a genuine, commercial use of AI in a place traditional production could never serve: filming in buildings that do not yet physically exist.
Hardy’s background is in film and television production, not technology, and that is the point he is most insistent on. He co-produced Eric Bana’s Love the Beast, one of the highest-grossing documentaries in Australian box-office history, ran two seasons in the USA of the series Garage Dreams for Warner Bros Discovery as showrunner and producer, and more recently executive-produced a multi-modal clean energy advocacy production that premiered at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, presented by Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres. Where much of the industry debate treats AI as a threat to craft or a novelty to be written off as slop, Hardy has aimed it at a problem filmmaking had simply left unsolved: how to make an emotional, cinematic film of a home that has not been built, for a buyer who may never visit before they purchase.
“I didn’t come to AI as a technologist. I came to it as a filmmaker looking at an entire category of property that could never have a film crew on set, because there was nothing built to film yet. That’s not a gap AI is taking from anyone. It’s a gap that never had anyone in it.” Brett Hardy, Founder, Journey AI Studios
The distinction matters to him because it reframes the whole question. Off-the-plan developments (residential and resort projects sold months or years before completion) have never been filmable in the conventional sense. There is no location, no interior, no light to chase. A handful of architectural renders exist, but a static render sells a specification, not a life. Hardy’s studio turns those renders into narrative, host-led films, applying the tools of cinema (casting, direction, pacing, grade) to a place that exists only as a drawing.
“The human factor doesn’t leave the process when AI enters it. It moves to the front of it. Someone still has to decide what a buyer should feel walking into that kitchen, and no model decides that. A human director does.” Brett Hardy, Founder, Journey AI Studios
The film follows Jacqui, a future resident, through a day in the development. Jacqui was created exclusively for the Harbour Frankston campaign. Journey AI Studios worked with the developer, Urban DC, to identify the characteristics that would suit the project’s marketing, and she was the result of testing and dialogue rather than a model default: a character built to meet a specific audience, the way a casting director builds a role.
A category opened, and results to match
The selected film was made for Harbour Frankston, a AUD 150 million development on Melbourne’s southern bayside, an under-discovered stretch of coast the project is helping put on the map. It became the hero content piece on the development’s homepage. Urban DC has attributed sales directly to floorplan-specific films and described Jacqui, the film’s AI-powered host, as “a great salesperson,” a verdict that carries unusual weight given its source: Danny Ciarma, who delivered that assessment as the developer, also served as the film’s co-director.
Journey AI Studios’ approach has already scaled internationally. For Hong Kong-based Kinnara Capital and their Saraya Resort located in Lombok, Indonesia, Journey AI Studios produced eight cinematic short films in 38 days. One film became the most-viewed post in the resort account’s entire history, while the campaign as a whole, the full slate of films and their shorter derivative edits, has drawn collective views approaching one million across the Saraya Resort and Kinnara Capital channels. Every post was openly labelled as AI, and across the campaign not one audience comment questioned the on-screen host, Maya, another custom brand avatar developed by Journey AI Studios.
A film with a crew, not a prompt
The selection also underscores what the studio argues is often missed about the work: it is directed, written, and cast like any other film. Harbour Frankston was directed by Brett Hardy and Urban DC founder Danny Ciarma, written by property marketing expert John Meagher, with casting by well-known AI video artist Angie McNiece. The film is a Journey AI Studios production for Urban DC.
Ciarma’s involvement is its own signal. He is the founder of Urban DC, the developer behind Harbour Frankston, and took a co-director credit on the film of his own project rather than simply commissioning it. Before founding one of Melbourne’s established apartment developers, Ciarma practised as a registered architect and held an in-house architect role at Village Roadshow, the Australian company behind some of the country’s best-known cinema. That an architect-developer chose to sit in the director’s chair is, for Hardy, the clearest illustration of the point: these films are made by people who understand both the building and the audience. This is not the work of machines.
The audience decides
From Friday 14 August, audiences worldwide can watch the Official Selection in the festival’s screening programme and cast their vote for People’s Choice, one vote per viewer. For Hardy, the public vote is the truest test available as he knows so well with some of his previous films being exhibited at Tribeca Film Festival in New York, Melbourne International Film Festival, Jakarta International Film Festival and the Munich Film Festival.
“A festival jury can tell you a film is well made. An audience telling you they’d watch it, and vote for it, is the same thing that tells a developer their buyers will watch it too. That’s the whole business in one signal and it’s exciting to see this amazing achievement for everyone at the Australian AI Film Awards.” Brett Hardy, Founder, Journey AI Studios
Whether or not Harbour Frankston takes the award, its selection stakes a claim Hardy has been making since founding the studio: that AI, in a filmmaker’s hands and pointed at the right problem, does not replace the work so much as reach the places the work could never go.
“Harbour Frankston proved that AI-powered property films sell. Saraya Lombok proved the content can scale. An Official Selection says the wider film audience world is starting to look, too.” Brett Hardy, Founder, Journey AI Studios
Official festival page: aifilmawards.com.au
The film can be viewed on the GenFlix platform at genflix.ai/studio/journey-ai-studios/commercial/harbour-frankston-coastal-luxury
Film synopsis. Step into a world where architectural brilliance meets the calming rhythm of the bay. Follow Jacqui, a future resident, as she navigates a day through the sophisticated, life-enhancing environment of Harbour Frankston. A seamless blend of community and luxury unfolds as Jacqui transitions from the secure, discreet entrance to the private car spa, later gathering with friends in the resident wine room. From morning sessions in the wellness facilities to twilight cocktails by the infinity pool, the setting invites a deeper, more present way of living. Witness the birth of a community crafted specifically for those who value what matters most: time, connection, and a genuine sense of belonging.
Credits. Directed by Brett Hardy and Danny Ciarma. Written by John Meagher. Casting by Angie McNiece. A Journey AI Studios production for Urban DC.
About Journey AI Studios. Journey AI Studios turns the static renders developers already own into cinematic, narrative-driven property films, produced in weeks without a shoot, a camera, or even site access. Founded in 2024 by filmmaker Brett Hardy and based on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, the studio works with off-the-plan residential and resort developers across Australia, Southeast Asia, the UK, Dubai and the United States.
About the founder. Brett Hardy is a filmmaker and content producer with more than two decades of experience. He co-produced Eric Bana’s directorial debut Love the Beast, one of the highest-grossing documentaries in Australian box-office history; was showrunner and producer across two seasons of the automotive series Garage Dreams for Warner Bros. Discovery; he began working in film and television on the Emmy-winning mini-series Buffalo Girls in the United States which was directed by his father, Australian TV director Rod Hardy; and executive-produced Environmental Symphony, which premiered at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in October 2023. He founded Journey AI Studios on the conviction that the tools of cinema, directed by a human rather than generated by an algorithm, can sell property that does not yet physically exist and accelerate the sales cycle for property developers.
About Urban DC.
Founded with a passion for architecture and a proud pioneering spirit, Urban DC creates living landmarks of craftsmanship, superior quality and thoughtful design.
Proven, trusted and respected, Urban DC crafts contemporary residences where style and lifestyle meet in perfect harmony and happiness is effortless.
Danny Ciarma is the founding Director of Urban DC with over 20 years experience as a successful property developer. After beginning his career as a registered architect, Danny then gained experience in project and development management both in Australia and overseas before starting his own development companies. Danny is also the co-founder of the successful property development company Urban Inc, which was formed several years ago following on from his role as Managing Director and partner of Pan Urban. Danny was instrumental in the development of landmark projects, to name a few, such as A’Beckett Tower, 401 St Kilda Road and Oscar Brighton. His residential buildings are some of Melbourne’s most stylish and acclaimed inner city apartment developments. Danny’s vision for Urban DC is to create contemporary urban apartment developments that incorporate award winning design in vibrant cosmopolitan locations.
On the claims. All performance figures relate to public, verifiable campaign results. Saraya campaign figures describe campaign results and may include paid reach. The developer quote and Harbour Frankston outcomes are on record with the client.
On the world-first claim. The description of Harbour Frankston is believed to be the first AI-generated short film*, created as the marketing campaign for a real off-the-plan property development to earn Official Selection at a film festival reflects the studio’s own research, which identified no prior example at the time of issue. Journey AI Studios welcomes correction if an earlier instance exists. *(i.e. not including short social media reels typically 10- 30 seconds)
