AI Film Contests Closing in January 2027: All 9 Deadlines, Week by Week

The rest are smaller and more specific: a €6 entry in Madrid (January 1), $2,750 in cash at the Hollywood AI Short Film Awards (January 11), a route to WAIFF Cannes for US creators (January 20), and festival screenings in Québec City (January 24) and Cannes (January 21). We checked eight of the nine against their official pages or FilmFreeway and Festhome listings on October 21, 2026. The ninth, Expo AI Film Festival Dubai, we could not confirm, and we explain why below.

The January short list

If you have one finished short and no budget, Chroma is the only January contest worth planning around first. It has five divisions (Film, Advertising, Music Video, Games and Behind-the-Scenes) plus Student Awards, accepts any project made after February 1, 2026, and lets you enter as many projects as you like, one category each. Films that use ElevenLabs significantly are considered for a separate $22,000 in ElevenLabs Awards without a second entry, per the ElevenLabs announcement of October 19.

If you want a screening in a room with an audience, the Hollywood AI Short Film Awards (HASFA) and the AI Cinema Festival in Québec City both hold their events within six weeks of their deadlines: February 13 in West Hollywood and February 19 to 21 at the Hilton Québec. HASFA also pays cash in every genre category, which most screening festivals do not.

If you live in the United States and want a shot at Cannes, WAIFF Los Angeles is the only January deadline with a path there. It costs $60 at the January tier, against $45 if you enter by November 30.

Week 1: January 1 to 7

IA Play International Film Festival, Madrid. The final deadline is January 1, 2027 and the fee is €6 on Festhome, the cheapest paid entry this month. The cash pool is €1,200: €250 for the Jury Award and €150 for the Online Audience Award in the first round, then €500 and €300 for the Grand Finale jury and audience awards. Works can run up to 40 minutes and must have been completed in January 2023 or later. There are four sections: 100% AI (fiction, documentary or experimental), 100% AI animation, hybrid narrative that mixes AI with traditional production, and web series and video art. Selections are announced January 15, online screenings run January 20 to March 10, and the gala is March 20 at Cine Artistic Metropol in Madrid. The rule to read twice: a film cannot have been submitted to a previous edition of the festival.

Global AI Music Video Awards (GAIMVA). The late and final deadline on Festhome is January 1, 2027, at $40 per category. This is the only January contest built for AI music videos, with 17 categories ranging from Best AI Music Video and Best Human + AI Collaboration to Best Social / Vertical AI Music Video and Best AI Original Song. The cash pool is $1,000 with no published split. Music videos are capped at 8 minutes, and there is one non-music category, Best AI Short Film, capped at 15. Two rules matter. To be eligible for Best AI Music Video you have to enter at least two categories, so budget $80, not $40. And every AI tool you used must be disclosed; the rules say false or missing disclosure can disqualify you. Notifications go out March 1 and the awards are April 24, 2027.

Chroma Awards Season 2 (online). Submissions opened October 19 and close January 7, 2027 at 11:45 PM PT. The ElevenLabs post also mentions January 1 in its opening paragraph, but its entry instructions and chromaawards.com both give January 7, so that is the date we list. Finalists are picked January 8 to 21, public voting and judging run January 21 to February 11, winners are announced February 11, and the gala is in April 2027 with the date to be announced. The official division totals are $38,000 for Film & TV, $35,000 for Ad, $24,000 for Music Video, $20,500 for Game, $17,000 for Behind-the-Scenes and $60,500 for Student Awards, plus $263,750 in Creative Tools awards for films that use sponsor tools. Sponsor tools come with free trials that started on announcement day. Student entrants aged 18 to 24 can also qualify for paid Summer 2027 internships. Our Chroma Season 2 page covers last season's winners.

Week 2: January 11

Hollywood AI Short Film Awards, second season. The final deadline is January 11, 2027 (the late tier closes December 15), notifications go out January 22, and the ceremony is Saturday, February 13, 2027 at the London West Hollywood Screening Room, during Super Bowl weekend, per the festival's FilmFreeway page. Cash totals $2,750: $750 for Best Picture and $250 each for Best Drama, Comedy, Thriller, Horror, Sci-Fi, Documentary, Animation and the Emerging Creator Award. Audience Choice, Best Branded Commercial and Best Music Video carry laurels only. Films must run 22 minutes or less including credits, must have been completed on or after January 1, 2024, and need English subtitles if they are not in English. You can enter a work-in-progress as long as the final cut is ready before the event. Only winners are screened at the ceremony, so do not enter expecting an official-selection screening.

Week 3: January 20 and 21

WAIFF Los Angeles. The late deadline is January 20, 2027, per worldaifilmfestival.us. Entry costs $60 at that tier, or $35 for students and under-18s, with $5 extra for features. The same film costs $45 if you enter by the regular deadline of November 30. Entry is limited to US-based creators aged 13 and over, and under-18s need a parent or guardian's consent. There is no premiere requirement. Nine categories cover live action short, feature, animated short, documentary, vertical and mobile, music video, advertisement, AR/VR/XR and gaming, with separate flag awards for the best student and youth work. Notifications go out February 15 and the festival is in Los Angeles in late March 2027. Five of the 11 winners advance to WAIFF Cannes 2027, where one Grand Prix is chosen from the five. Our WAIFF 2027 page explains the full Road to Cannes structure.

LundinStudio Ai Film Festival, third edition. The final deadline is January 21, 2027, after monthly cutoffs on November 19 and December 17. This is a one-category festival, Best Ai Short Film, open to entrants 18 and over from any country. The film must run 1 to 10 minutes including credits, be based on an original script, and use AI-generated footage for all of its visuals, so a hybrid live-action piece does not qualify. The FilmFreeway prize is a laurel, $300 plus your submission fee back, a month of Saga Premium and three months of Melies Pro. Judging covers storytelling, character consistency, pacing, cinematography and production value, and ten finalists are shown in a live event stream. Notifications go out February 18 and the event is March 18 and 19, 2027.

Cannes Film Awards, AI Film category. The last-call deadline is January 21, 2027, notifications go out May 3, and the festival runs June 25 to 27, 2027 at the Olympia Cinema in Cannes. Two things to know before you pay. First, this festival states on its FilmFreeway page that it has no connection to the Festival de Cannes. Second, the AI Film category is new for 2027 and the $1,000 cash pool goes to six other categories (best feature, feature documentary, short, music video, director and feature screenplay), so an AI Film win brings a laurel and the promotional package: a VIP interview valued at $300, social and email promotion, a three-month MUBI subscription and a MasterClass voucher. Films must have been completed after January 1, 2023, and the AI use has to be disclosed in the end credits or the film can be disqualified.

Week 4: January 24

AI Cinema Festival, Québec City. The final deadline is January 24, 2027, and the festival runs February 19 to 21, 2027 at the Hilton Québec on boulevard René-Lévesque. There are three tracks: Human + AI Cinema, where human direction, editing, performance or voice guides the tools; Full AI Film; and Future Formats, which takes vertical, immersive, interactive, micro-short, trailer, fashion film, music video and XR work. Awards are the Grand Prix Québec, Best Human + AI Direction, Best AI Cinematography, a Responsible AI Cinema Award and an Audience Signal Award, with no cash amounts published. Judging covers point of view, image, sound, editing and story, and also consent and accountability. The rules require you to disclose the main AI tools and workflows you used, and films not in English or French need subtitles in one of the two. The site does not publish an entry fee, so check FilmFreeway or write to the festival before you budget.

What we could not confirm

Expo AI Film Festival Dubai lists a January 21, 2027 final deadline in our database, from its listing in May. On October 21 its official site, aifilmfest.ae, loaded without any text, and the FilmFreeway page we found, AIFF Dubai, shows the first edition with entries closed. We are not recommending it until the 2027 call is live on a page we can read.

Which January contests are free

Only Chroma lists no entry fee. Everything else charges something: €6 at IA Play Madrid, $40 per category at GAIMVA, $60 at WAIFF Los Angeles's late tier, and tiered FilmFreeway fees at HASFA, LundinStudio and Cannes Film Awards. If cost is the constraint, enter Chroma first, then IA Play. Our free AI film contests page tracks every no-fee call into 2027.

The rules that will disqualify you

Completion dates differ more than usual this month. Chroma only takes projects made after February 1, 2026. HASFA takes films completed on or after January 1, 2024. IA Play goes back to January 2023, and Cannes Film Awards to January 1, 2023. A film you finished in 2025 fits HASFA, IA Play and Cannes but not Chroma.

Runtime is next. LundinStudio caps at 10 minutes, GAIMVA at 8 for music videos, HASFA at 22 and IA Play at 40.

Then disclosure. GAIMVA, Québec and Cannes Film Awards all require you to name your AI tools, and Cannes wants it in the end credits. Keep a log of the tools, versions and settings you used per shot, whether that was Midjourney or Flux stills, Runway, Kling, Veo or Sora video, ElevenLabs voices or Suno music.

Finally, the content rules: LundinStudio wants AI-generated footage for all visuals and an original script, WAIFF Los Angeles is US residents only, and IA Play refuses films sent to an earlier edition.

How to plan a January run with one film

Start with a film under 10 minutes, finished in 2026, with a written list of the AI tools you used. That one cut fits Chroma (free), IA Play (€6), HASFA, LundinStudio if every shot is AI-generated, Cannes Film Awards and Québec, which is six entries. Add WAIFF Los Angeles if you live in the US, and enter it by November 30 rather than January 20 to save $15. Submit to IA Play before January 1, Chroma before January 7, HASFA before January 11, and the rest in the week of January 20.

KCAIF in South Korea also has an earlybird deadline on January 31, 2027, with its final deadline in April; our Korea page covers it. For the months before, see our November and December deadline pages and our 2027 festival calendar.

Deadlines move, and FilmFreeway tiers change without notice. Every contest above links to its live listing in our directory, which we recheck daily, and the email alert below sends you new contests as we add them.