AI Film Contests with Cash Prizes

Higgsfield Global Film Festival

Higgsfield AI

$1,000,000 prize pool — the largest single-platform AI film contest of 2026. 14 winners split $1M, with the top film taking $500,000. Jury includes 5x Oscar winner Ed Catmull (ex-President Walt Disney Animation, exec producer Toy Story) and Oscar-nominated cinematographer Phedon Papamichael. Just 24 days to create a film — submissions open Aug 7 and slam shut Aug 31. Every prompt goes public. Any genre, any story.

AKOOL Creator Clash – Seedance 2 Global AI Video Competition

AKOOL

The AKOOL Creator Clash invites creators to showcase their talent using AI video generation powered by Seedance 2. Participants can submit original videos published on social media platforms. Winners will be announced on September 30, 2026.

Bali International AI Film Festival (BIAIFF) 2026 — Season 5

BIAIFF — Festival Director Ben Makinen

A seasonal AI festival that actually puts your film on a screen: winners play at Cinema Paradiso in Ubud, Bali, on a 4K projector in front of a paying audience. Season 5 has thirteen award tracks, from Best AI Feature and Best AI Short to Best AI Human Rights and a blooper reel category. Extended deadline Sep 16, screening Sep 30.

AI Song Contest 2026 — Bangkok

AI Song Contest

The original international AI music competition returns for its 2026 edition — Eurovision-style, but every song is co-created with AI. Winners fly to Bangkok on Nov 29 for the live Award Show and take home $1,000 cash plus global recognition. Submissions close Sept 27, 2026 — the deadline that put AI songwriting on the world map.

WAIMF — World AI Movie Festival 2026 (Marbella)

FILM6

Inaugural edition of the World AI Movie Festival, a live screening and awards event for AI-generated and hybrid AI filmmaking. It runs 7–8 October 2026 at the Red Dog Cinema in Puerto Banús, Marbella, with an international jury of producers, directors and VFX professionals.

We Are Human Festival – Film & AI International Open Call 2026

Film Resource Africa

The We Are Human Festival invites filmmakers to submit works that explore the intersection of humanity and AI. The festival emphasizes human creative direction in AI-generated works and offers a range of prizes for outstanding submissions. Selected films will be screened internationally.

We Are Human Festival 2026 – Call for Films

We Are Human Festival

International call for original 1–10 minute audiovisual works that explore the links between artificial intelligence, audiovisual creation and human rights, illustrating or questioning Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with AI as a creative partner.[1][3][4] Selected films screen at the We Are Human Festival in Paris at Forum des Images and then in an international tour to cities including New York, São Paulo, Johannesburg and Geneva.[3][4] An Ethics Notebook documenting AI tools used, the human role and ethical approach is mandatory and presented with the film during the festival.[3][5]

Runway AI Film Festival

Runway

The Runway AI Film Festival showcases innovative films that utilize AI tools in their creation. This annual festival features a screening in New York City, providing filmmakers with significant industry exposure. Submissions are open to all genres, emphasizing creativity and the use of AI technology.

Call for Films AI 2026

We Are Human Foundation

This international call invites filmmakers to explore the connections between AI and human rights through audiovisual creation. Works must incorporate human/AI hybrid creation and will be screened in Paris and other partner cities. Selected films will contribute to a collective reflection on the future of our societies.

1 Billion AI Film Award

1 Billion Followers Summit

This global AI filmmaking competition culminates in a $1 million prize and a public premiere at the 1 Billion Followers Summit in Dubai. It invites filmmakers to explore innovative storytelling through AI.

Slamdance Film Festival — DIG (AI Films Encouraged) 2027

Slamdance

The legendary indie festival Tarantino and Russo Brothers came up through is actively encouraging AI-made films in its DIG category. Winner package includes the $25,000 AGBO Fellowship from the Russo Brothers plus a Utopia theatrical distribution deal — one of the most career-defining wins in indie cinema. Deadline October 6.

PixLight 2026

PixVerse

PixLight 2026 is an annual AI film contest seeking genre pilots and feature screenplays. The contest aims to greenlight innovative projects, with a total prize pool of $300,000. Winning projects will receive development and production support.

AI Cinema Festival Canada — Ottawa 2026

AI Cinema Festival

A bilingual Ottawa festival for hybrid human+AI and fully AI-generated cinema, screening November 13–15, 2026 with awards across five tracks.

IA en Corto — International AI Short Film Festival (2nd Edition)

IA en Corto

€2 to enter. That's the whole barrier. IA en Corto's 2nd edition out of Santiago, Chile is one of the few AI festivals that judges creative intent over raw tool output — your film doesn't have to be 100% AI, the AI just has to matter. Official Selection, jury awards and a People's Choice prize, with selected films published on the festival site. Deadline Oct 18.

2026 AI Horror Film Competition — Curious Refuge

Curious Refuge + partner

The AI Horror Film Competition returns for its 4th year — the biggest cash pool yet, and the deadline is closer than you think. Halloween-week screening, community judged, and past winners have used it as a launchpad into Curious Refuge features. Fully AI, hybrid, whatever haunts you — bring it.

All Is Prompt (Todo es Prompt) AI Film Festival 2026 — 2nd Edition

Todo es Prompt — Aldo Massone

A Spanish-and-English online festival out of Mexico City for films built with AI tools, now in its second edition. Entry starts under $2, it takes AI features up to two hours as well as shorts, and awards go to craft categories like Best AI Cinematography and Best Emerging AI Director. Extended deadline Oct 25, festival Oct 29 to Nov 4.

OpenCV AI Competition 2026

Open Source Vision Foundation (OpenCV)

This global competition invites developers to create applications using image or video analysis to solve real-world problems. Prizes total $12,000, with $5,000 for first place. The competition runs from August 26 to October 26, 2026.

HKBU Future Film Fest 2026 (3F)

School of Creative Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University

$66,000 total prize pool at Hong Kong's newest AI-native film festival. Built on the legacy of the Global University Film Awards — the 'University Oscars' — 3F 2026 now includes an AI Shorts category worth USD 5,000 for Best AI Short plus USD 3,000 Jury Recommendation. Open to filmmakers 30 and under from any recognized post-secondary institution worldwide. Works must use generative AI as the core mechanism; live-action not substantially transformed by AI is prohibited.

HKBU Future Film Fest 2026 (3F) – AI Shorts Category

School of Creative Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University

The HKBU Future Film Fest 2026 invites filmmakers aged 30 and under to submit AI-driven shorts. The competition emphasizes the use of generative AI as the core mechanism, with a total prize pool of $66,000. Winning films will be showcased at the festival in Hong Kong.

AI for the Future Festival — COP31 Edition 2026

AI for the Future — curator Lisa Russell

The fourth and final 2026 category of a festival that screens AI work inside United Nations convenings rather than a cinema. This round is aligned to COP31 and wants climate storytelling: resilience, ecological futures, biodiversity and just transitions. Film, photography, music and script all accepted. Deadline Nov 30, awards event Dec 15.

AI ZONE International AI Film Festival 2026

AI ZONE

Global online film festival dedicated exclusively to AI-generated cinema, now in its 2nd edition. Regular deadline 30 November 2026, with the festival on 15 January 2027; a $500 Grand Prize goes to a selected film that agrees to non-exclusive publication on the AI Zone platform.

2026 AI Holiday Film Competition — Curious Refuge x Epidemic Sound

Curious Refuge x Epidemic Sound

The largest prize pool ever for a fully AI-generated holiday short — Epidemic Sound and Curious Refuge return with $7,500+ in cash for winners. Warm, weird, or wildly cinematic — make something people rewatch every December. Deadline December 6.

JIFF World AI Cinema Competition 2027 — Jaipur

Jaipur International Film Festival (JIFF)

India's biggest film festival adds a dedicated AI cinema competition — ₹1,00,000 prize pool and a global Jaipur showcase Jan 8–12, 2027. Final deadline December 21, 2026. Open to filmmakers, students and creators from every continent working in AI-driven or AI-assisted storytelling.

Higgsfield: Make Your Action Scene Contest

Higgsfield

Higgsfield's follow-up to its record-breaking $500K AI film contest (8,800 entries, 139 countries). Build a world, pick your hero, raise the stakes — create an action scene that makes people wish your film was real. Free entry, cash prizes, and featured spots for winners across Higgsfield's global creator channels.

Runway Hundred Film Fund

Runway

Rolling grant fund offering $5K–$1M+ per project plus up to $2M in Runway credits. Decisions within ~14 days.

AI Film Fest Monaco 2026

AI Film Fest Monaco

Global AI film festival requiring AI-generated content for short films. Screens at festival in Monaco.

Artiver AI Art Awards 2026

Artiver (New York)

Winners get a Times Square billboard showcase and a New York physical exhibition — one of the only AI programs with high-visibility public exhibition prizes. Four fields open: Film & Video, Image & Visual Art, Spatial & Architecture, and Interactive Media. Cash prizes and monetization opportunities on the Artiver platform.

Chroma Awards — Season 2

ElevenLabs, Google Cloud, Fal, Freepik, Dreamina, CapCut

Season 2 of the global AI competition across Film, Music, and Games. This competition celebrates creativity in AI-driven projects and includes a selective program featuring top AI film directors worldwide.

Global AI Music Video Awards (GAIMVA) 2027

GAIMVA / Festhome

The first international awards festival dedicated exclusively to AI-generated and AI-assisted music videos. Deadline January 1, 2027. Welcomes fully AI-generated, hybrid, experimental, narrative, performance-based, animated, vertical, student-made, and human+AI collaboration works — the widest AI music video category set anywhere.

Hollywood AI Short Film Awards (HASFA) 2027

Hollywood AI Short Film Awards

Second season of the Hollywood AI Short Film Awards, honouring films that make meaningful creative use of AI across development, production, post, animation, visual design and audio. The 2027 ceremony runs during Super Bowl Weekend at the London West Hollywood Screening Room on 13 February 2027.

LundinStudio AI Film Festival 2027 (Australia's First)

LundinStudio

Australia's first AI film festival — rolling monthly deadlines through January 2027 mean you can submit on your timeline. Win cash back on your submission fee plus pro subscriptions to Saga and Melies. Live screening in Sydney, March 18-19, 2027.

Ai Film Festival — IMDb-Qualifying Screening 2027

Ai Film Festival

IMDb-qualifying AI festival run by LundinStudio with staged monthly cutoffs (Oct 15, Nov 19, Dec 17 and a final deadline of 21 January 2027) leading to a screening event on 18-19 March 2027. Best AI Short Film requires an original script with AI-generated shots in every scene, 1-10 minutes including credits.

AI Cinema Festival Québec City 2027

AI Cinema Festival

Québec City opens submissions for the first-ever regional AI cinema festival — a three-day event Feb 19–21, 2027, judged on point of view, image, sound, editing, story, consent, responsibility and emotional impact. Hybrid human + AI or fully AI-generated works both welcome. Deadline: Jan 24, 2027.

AI CINEMA — Festival of AI Filmmaking, Montréal 2027

AI Cinema Festival

Montréal joins the AI cinema circuit — one intense day of screenings and awards March 5, 2027. Six award groups celebrate work made with AI as a meaningful creative force: generation, direction, animation, sound, or post. Pure live-action need not apply. Decisions by Feb 15, 2027. Submissions open on FilmFreeway now — deadline Feb 5, 2027.

PROMPT Festival 2027 — Toronto

PROMPT Festival

Toronto's AI-native cinema festival, back after an inaugural 2026 season at the Black Box in Scarborough. It accepts anything where AI touched the pipeline, in any genre, and runs ten rolling deadlines instead of one cliff. Fifteen award categories, including the signature Best Prompt. Final deadline, 'Last Frame', is Apr 16 2027.

Seoul International AI Film Festival (SIAFF) 2027 — 6th Edition

Seoul International AI Film Festival

Sixth edition of Seoul's AI film festival, with an awards ceremony, screening and gala on 30 May 2027 at the enTravel Cultural Complex in Gangnam, followed by a director–audience talk on 31 May. Around eighteen award categories cover AI film, music video, animation, screenplay, sound design and visual effects.

Cannes Film Awards 2027 — New AI Category

Cannes Film Awards

Cannes Film Awards just opened dedicated categories for AI films, VR, games, and 360° video for the very first time. Event date: June 26, 2027 on the Riviera. $1K+ cash and $25K+ in promotional/partner awards on the line. If you want a Cannes credit on an AI short, this is the cleanest entry point on the calendar.

MetaMorph AI Film Award 2027

MetaMorph — founders Ruby Griffiths and Stephan Baum

London awards night for films where AI did real work, not decoration: the rules ask for AI in at least 50% of the creative or production process, and hybrid AI plus live action is explicitly welcome. Fifteen categories, including two split by budget so a £900 film is not judged against a £30,000 one. Regular deadline Apr 30 2027, late May 8, extended May 15.

AI Cinema Festival NYC — July 2027

AI Cinema Festival

New York City gets its own AI cinema festival — three days of screenings, conversations and awards July 16–18, 2027. Grand Prix NYC, Best Human + AI Direction, Best AI Cinematography, Responsible AI Cinema Award and Audience Signal Award on the table. Not a prompt contest — a film culture event for directors, editors, actors, writers and technologists who care about story and consent. Deadline: June 20, 2027.

AI Cinema Festival Cannes 2027

AI Cinema Festival

Cannes is opening its doors to human-led AI cinema — and this is your shot at a Grand Prix Cannes trophy. The AI Cinema Festival Cannes runs November 12–14, 2027 in the city that defines global film prestige, with awards for Best Human + AI Direction, Best AI Cinematography, and the Responsible AI Cinema Award. Long runway, real stakes.

Atlanta AI Ad Fest — AIAF 2026

Atlanta AI Ad Fest (AIAF)

A brand-new festival built for the ad world at the exact moment AI is rewriting it — the inaugural Atlanta AI Ad Fest launches November 21 with a live vote for Best of Festival. Entry is FREE, $2,500 cash on the table, and every finalist gets screened in front of Atlanta agency talent. If you make AI-driven ad, brand, or commissioned work, this is your ground-floor moment.

Bengaluru International Short Film Festival — AI Film Category (17th Edition)

Bengaluru International Short Film Festival (BISFF)

India's only Oscar-qualifying short film festival runs a dedicated "Machine Made Movies" AI Film competition section alongside its International and Indian programs.