Lenovo and FIFA Let AI Run the Beautiful Game for World Cup 2026

​Rattling Stick has released new work by Owen Trevor Black with Lenovo in partnership with FIFA, showcasing how Lenovo’s AI-driven solutions will power the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026.

Seen through the eyes and experience of fans, the film is born out of Owen’s obsession with the game, capturing for Lenovo how the FIFA World Cup permeates every inch of daily life all around the world.

The idea positions Lenovo technology as the engine behind the most technologically advanced World Cup in history, bringing the immense scale of the tournament into focus - from every match and challenge to every pass - so the game feels alive in people’s living rooms.

Shot in Owen’s cinematic, highly visual style, the character-led film frames this technological moment with warmth and humour, revealing how AI is transforming football from behind the scenes. Without relying on traditional sports imagery, instead focusing on human interaction of people from different nations, to show how Lenovo’s technology amplifies decision-making and moves in rhythm with the game.

The result is a film that balances scale with intimacy, and humour reflecting how completely this global event takes over daily life while it’s on.

The film was shot over two days in a studio in Bucharest with a fantastic local art department and production, with individual scenes created in AI and vignette AI enhancement throughout.

Owen Trevor Black enthused, “Lenovo gave me a script about new technology employed in the game framed by football fever at its finest … we got to have a lot of fun with football brainiacs, sculpted poodles and every flavour of footy fan.. Oh and not least the Maradona of the Squirrel world ! .. I mean how could I resist. The World Cup is undoubtedly the biggest event on the planet, and we got a chance to show that and creatively flex using a combo of live action and AI.”

“As a football fanatic himself, Owen Trevor Black knew exactly how the World Cup takes over the world,” said Santi Pochat, VP, AI innovation and brand strategy at Lenovo. “But he also knew the smartest way to show Lenovo’s AI wasn’t through spectacle alone - it was through people, and the wonderfully unexpected ways football crashes into everyday life. His cinematic approach captures the scale of the FIFA World Cup while keeping it playful, human and full of personality.”