Runway Film Contests 2026

TAIFF — Türkiye International AI Film Festival (3rd Edition)

Türkiye International AI Film Festival

Türkiye's flagship AI film festival returns to Istanbul's Atatürk Cultural Center for a 3rd edition — 2,000+ submissions from 100+ countries so far. Grand Prize for Best AI Film plus new craft awards for AI Director, Cinematographer, Editor, Composer, VFX and more. Free FilmFreeway submission. Deadline Nov 1, 2026; screening at Yeşilçam Cinema Dec 7–9, 2026.

Türkiye International AI Film Festival (T-AIFF) 2026 — 3rd Edition

Türkiye International AI Film Festival

2,000+ submissions from over 100 countries and still growing — T-AIFF's 3rd edition judges AI films across the whole production stack, with awards for Best AI Director, Cinematographer, Editing, Sound Design, Music, VFX, Animation and Documentary. All submission-fee revenue is redistributed back to filmmakers as prize money. Deadline Nov 1, screenings at Istanbul's historic Yeşilçam Cinema Dec 7–9.

JIFF World AI Cinema Competition 2027 — Jaipur

Jaipur International Film Festival (JIFF)

Jaipur International Film Festival's World AI Cinema Competition, hosted during JIFF Jan 8–12, 2027. Deadlines: early bird Aug 15, late Oct 15, extended Nov 15, final Dec 5, 2026. Nomination lists are published Nov 5, Dec 5 and Dec 21, 2026 (Dec 21 is the final list, not the submission deadline). Categories include AI Student Film, AI Short, Feature, Documentary, Animation, Music Video and AI Screenplay. Open to filmmakers, students and creators from all continents. Verified on jiffindia.org Sep 19, 2026.

Runway Hundred Film Fund

Runway

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

WAIFF Los Angeles 2026 — World AI Film Festival USA

World AI Film Festival (WAIFF) / Institut EuropIA

Hollywood's biggest AI cinema moment of 2026. The U.S. edition of the World AI Film Festival lands in Los Angeles in late March 2027, and the top five films advance to the WAIFF Cannes 2027 Grand Finale at the Palais des Festivals. Nine categories — Live Action Short, Feature, Animated, Doc, Vertical/Mobile, Music Video, Ad, AR/VR/XR, Gaming. Submit before the LA cut-off and your film could be on a Cannes red carpet at WAIFF Cannes 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.

Sin Cámara — Festival de Cortos IA en Español (2nd Edition)

Aplimedia, S.L.

Second edition of a Spanish-language AI short film festival for creators in Spain and Latin America. Shorts run 30 seconds to 3 minutes, entry is free, and public voting picks the finalists.

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.

A Gossip Goblin GenJam

645 Ventures, Machine Cinema, Google DeepMind, Showrunner and Gossip Goblin

An in-person generative AI film jam at Google DeepMind in San Francisco. Fifteen accepted teams get one Gossip Goblin seed clip and one evening to turn it into a short film of up to two minutes. Application only, reviewed on a rolling basis.

AI Movie Awards: AIMA

AI Movie Awards

An AI-focused festival for films, music videos, music, art, and ads created primarily with AI tools. Winners are screened at IET London in London, United Kingdom.

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.

Korea AI Cinema Festival (KACF)

KACF Organizing Committee

Your AI film doesn't just get a laurel — it gets a real cinema screen. KACF put 110 AI-generated films in front of a live audience at Seoul's historic Chungmuro cinema district last year, more theatrical AI screenings than any other festival in Korea. Categories span AI Film, AI Music Video, AI Movie Director, Animation, Commercial, Trailer, Poster, and Screenwriter. Deadline October 31.

WAIFF London 2026 — World AI Film Festival UK

World AI Film Festival (WAIFF) UK edition

The UK edition of the World AI Film Festival, held November 24, 2026 at Bloomsbury Big Top in London. Open to UK-based creators aged 13 and up across eight categories, from live-action shorts and features to vertical micro-series and 3D Worlds. From 11 winners, a jury selects 5 works to advance to the WAIFF Cannes 2027 Grand Finale, and one is named WAIFF London Grand Prix.

Cue Film Fest — Cue Xmas '26

AFRO TV / Cue Film Fest

Your AI Christmas short could air live on national cable TV. Cue Film Fest's inaugural holiday edition broadcasts December 12 on AFRO TV (Comcast Xfinity ch. 1623) and NOW TV, with winners decided live by viewer voting and a jury. Free to enter: submit a 2:00–6:00 AI short film or AI music video with a Christmas theme, built from multiple intentional, edited shots (a single unedited AI-generated clip is not eligible). Four cash awards — Best Film, Best Image, Best Sound and Best AI Music Video — with the Best Film grand prize announced last on the live broadcast.

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.