AI Film Contests Closing in November 2026: All 11 Deadlines, Week by Week

The rest trade on screenings and status: WAIFF London sends five winners to WAIFF Cannes 2027, Türkiye's T-AIFF screens in Istanbul's Atatürk Cultural Center, and Veritas shows 16 films at Toronto's Carlton Cinema. This page lists every November deadline in our database by week, with the fee, the runtime cap, and the rule most likely to get your film rejected. We checked each one against its official page on October 15, 2026.

The November short list

If you have one finished short and limited budget, these are the four entries worth making first. Cue Xmas '26 is free, closes November 20 at 11:59 PM ET, and its ceremony airs live on AFRO TV (Xfinity channel 1623) and NOW TV on December 12, per cuefilmfest.com. Cine Prague's $1,000 Grand Prix is the largest single cash award closing this month, and every category caps runtime at five minutes, per its FilmFreeway page. AI M0V1E pays $1,000 for Best AI Feature Film, $700 for Best AI Series and $500 for Best AI Short Film, but only if you also upload the project to m0v1e.ai. AI ZONE's $500 Grand Prize goes to one officially selected Best AI Mini Movie whose maker agrees to non-exclusive publication on the AI ZONE platform.

If you are UK-based, WAIFF London is the strategic pick. It is the only November deadline that feeds a bigger festival: of its 11 winners, a jury advances five to the WAIFF Cannes 2027 Grand Finale.

Week 1: November 1

Four contests close on Sunday, November 1, which makes it the busiest day of the month.

AI M0V1E Film Festival (online, California-based organizer). November 1 is its late and final deadline; notifications go out November 15 and the online event is December 12. Categories are AI Narrative Shorts, Features and Series. The Best AI Feature Film prize requires a 40 to 90 minute runtime, and Best AI Series asks for 5 to 50 episodes of 1 to 5 minutes each. The FilmFreeway rules say plainly that projects submitted there but not uploaded to AI M0V1E "will NOT be eligible" for selection or cash. Jurors listed on FilmFreeway include Robert Gaudette and Sai Praneeth Sirigiri.

Türkiye International AI Film Festival (T-AIFF), 3rd edition, Istanbul. Applications run June 25 to November 1, notifications come November 29, and screenings are December 7 to 9 at the AKM Yeşilçam Cinema inside the Atatürk Cultural Center. Films must be finished after January 1, 2025, run 20 minutes or less, and must not have aired on TV or been published on digital platforms. You can enter up to five works. There are 11 award categories, each split National and International, from Best AI Film to Best AI Music. The international category carries what the festival calls a symbolic fee, and it says that fee revenue is paid back out as awards to international directors. The festival estimates 4,000 submissions on its listing.

AI Creativity Awards 2026 (online, UK). This is a launch edition covering eight disciplines, with Motion & Film as the one that matters here. The official site lists £35 per entry, or £15 for students and recent graduates; the £25 early rate has closed. There is no cash prize. Winners and shortlisted creators get a 2026 title, digital laurels, a certificate and a feature in the winners' showcase, with results on December 1, 2026. Judging weighs how well you disclose your AI use, so write that section with care.

Week 2: November 8 to 10

International AI Short Film Festival (IASFF), India and online. The extended deadline is November 10 at $30, per its Festhome page. The $10 and $15 tiers have passed, and the $20 late tier is open until October 31, so entering this month saves $10. Runtime caps at 30 minutes. Every entry must include a Statement of AI Labor listing the tools you used and a percentage split of human curation versus AI generation. Awards are Best of the Fest, Most Innovative Prompt and an Audience Choice decided by votes during the YouTube screening week, December 8 to 15. A separate National Competition is limited to Indian citizens, residents and diaspora.

Cine Prague's late deadline also falls on November 8. FilmFreeway fees normally rise with each tier, so if Prague is on your list, check the current fee before November 8 rather than waiting for the November 28 extended tier.

Week 3: November 15 to 20

AI New York Awards, Manhattan. The extended and final deadline is November 15, per FilmFreeway, after a late tier that closes October 25. Notifications go out November 22 and the awards evening is November 30 at Creative Studio, 134 West 29th Street. Runtimes from 30 seconds to 25 minutes are accepted. Six categories include Best AI Prompt & Workflow and Best AI Character Consistency, which suits makers who can show their pipeline. Deepfakes of real people are banned without written consent, and the rules say this "does not bend". No cash prize is stated.

WAIFF London 2026. The super-late deadline is November 17, notifications go out November 20, and the ceremony is November 24 at Bloomsbury Big Top, 93 Guilford Street. Eligibility is the strictest of the month: UK-based creators aged 13 and up only (under 18s need parental consent), and a Production Journal naming your AI tools is mandatory. Eight categories cover live-action shorts, features, advertising, music video, documentary, Masterpieces, vertical micro-series and 3D Worlds. Our database shows earlier tiers of £45, £55 and £75 per category, so expect the super-late tier to cost at least that. No premiere is required, and prior streaming or festival play does not count against you.

Cue Film Fest, Cue Xmas '26. The deadline is November 20 at 11:59 PM ET and entry is free. Submit one Christmas-themed AI short film or AI music video between 2:00 and 6:00 long, delivered as a 16:9 master. The rule that rejects most entries: the film must use multiple intentional shots shaped by your own edit, so a single unedited AI clip is not eligible. Each entry also needs a creative brief and an AI process summary. Ten short films plus the top music video make an 11-film selection, alongside ten music videos, announced December 1. Viewer and jury scores are weighted 50/50, and the ceremony is multicast from Afrotainers Theater in Orlando. Award amounts for Best Film, Best Image, Best Sound and Best AI Music Video have not been published yet.

Week 4: November 28 to 30

Cine Prague AI Film Festival 2026. The extended deadline is November 28 and the finale is December 1 at Kino Edison in Prague, where the $1,000 Grand Prix is presented. All competition entries run five minutes or less. Unusually, it also accepts traditional films with analog and practical effects in a separate category, plus Best Foley, Best Trailer and Best AI Short Comedy. Category winners get a handcrafted crystal trophy.

AI ZONE International AI Film Festival, 2nd edition (online). The regular deadline is November 30, notifications are December 15, and the festival runs January 15, 2027. There is a single category, Best AI Mini Movie. Only films that accept non-exclusive publication on AI ZONE are eligible for the $500 prize; you keep ownership and copyright either way, per the rules.

Veritas AI Film Festival, Toronto. The deadline is November 30, notifications follow by December 31, and the one-day screening is February 20, 2027 at Imagine Cinemas Carlton Cinema, 20 Carlton Street. Films must be under seven minutes, and only 16 are selected. Our database lists the fee at $9. It bills itself as Canada's first festival devoted to AI filmmaking.

AI for the Future Festival, COP31 round (online, New York). November 30 is the last of its monthly deadlines for 2026, and the awards event is December 15. Curator Lisa Russell programs AI work into UN-aligned events rather than a cinema, and this final category asks for climate stories: resilience, ecological futures, biodiversity, just transitions. Film, photography and art, music and scripts are all accepted. There is no cash prize.

Which November contests are free

Only one November deadline is clearly free on its official page: Cue Xmas '26. T-AIFF charges a symbolic fee on international entries and redistributes it as prizes. AI ZONE does not show a fee in its published rules text, so check the FilmFreeway form before you count on it being free. For a wider list of no-fee calls through the end of the year, see our free AI film contests page.

The rules that will disqualify you

Runtime is the most common problem this month. The caps vary widely: Cine Prague allows five minutes, Cue six, Veritas under seven, T-AIFF 20, AI New York 25 and IASFF 30. If your film runs eight minutes, Cine Prague, Cue and Veritas are out unless you cut it down.

Disclosure is the second. WAIFF London requires a Production Journal, IASFF requires a Statement of AI Labor with percentages, Cue requires an AI process summary, and the AI Creativity Awards score disclosure as part of judging. Keep a running log of the tools you use, whether Runway, Kling, Veo, Sora, Midjourney, ElevenLabs or Suno, and the version and settings for each shot. A log is easy to keep during production and slow to rebuild from memory afterward.

Third is prior release. T-AIFF rejects films already shown on TV or published on digital platforms, which can include your own YouTube upload. WAIFF London and AI New York do not have that rule. If T-AIFF is on your list, enter it before you post the film publicly.

Fourth is platform upload. AI M0V1E requires an m0v1e.ai upload for cash eligibility and AI ZONE requires publication consent for its prize. Neither takes ownership, but both want the film on their platform.

How to plan a November run with one film

Start with the hardest constraint, which is usually runtime. A 4:30 Christmas-themed short qualifies for Cue (free), Cine Prague ($1,000 Grand Prix), Veritas, AI New York, T-AIFF and IASFF, which is six entries from one film. Enter T-AIFF and AI M0V1E first because both close November 1. Then IASFF before November 10, then AI New York and Cue in the third week, and finally Cine Prague, AI ZONE and Veritas on November 28 to 30.

Most of these festivals announce selections in December, so a November submission run lines you up for the WAIFF Cannes 2027, Berlin AI Film Festival and Artefact deadlines that follow. Our November and December deadlines page covers the December calendar, and our circuit strategy guide explains how to order a festival run so early laurels help later entries.

Deadlines move. Festivals extend often, and FilmFreeway tiers change without notice. Every contest on this page 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.