Things I Never Said

Things I Never Said was written, directed and produced by Ziyao Lin. It runs about nine minutes and is drawn in a blue-and-white, hand-drawn animation style. The Job Film Days program describes a young animator alone in a room, talking to an artificial intelligence as they work together on a project destined to stay unseen. With no funding or support, her stories hide in unwatched films, unsent emails and quiet corners of childhood. In the film’s description, Lin says it was made with AI as a collaborator. The program credits Jimeng AI and Mubert AI for animation, Suno AI and Mubert AI for music, and ElevenLabs for voiceover. The film won Best Script & Narrative at CIAIFF 2025.

Who it's for:viewers who care about independent creators, personal memory and what it looks like when people and AI make things together.

Before you watch: on YouTube, about 9 minutes 7 seconds. We only sampled a few frames with the sound off and saw English subtitles and on-screen text; we haven't checked the narration language or whether subtitles run through the whole film. No reuse rights are granted.

Based on the creator’s YouTube page, the Job Film Days program and the CIAIFF winners list. Watch the film itself for the full picture.