AI Film Festivals in Africa and the Middle East 2026: Four Deadlines in October

The fifth, the Expo AI Film Festival at Expo City Dubai, has a final deadline of January 21, 2027. Three of the five accept filmmakers from anywhere in the world. The African AI Film Festival needs an African connection, and AI Film Festival Africa needs a film about Africa, though you do not have to live there. Every date, fee and rule below was checked against the festival's own site or FilmFreeway listing on October 2, 2026.

The short answer, festival by festival

Tel Aviv AI Film Festival closes October 15 and screens its selections on November 10 at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque as part of Tel Aviv AI Week. It is open worldwide, takes short AI films in any genre and allows two entries per person.

African AI Film Festival closes October 20. Filmmakers based in Africa enter free, and so does anyone in the Student & Emerging category. Everyone else pays $5 to $10 at the late tier. Winners screen in Hollywood on November 21 and in Kampala, Uganda on December 12.

Golden Dunes International Film Festival closes October 20 and runs November 28 to 30 in Downtown Dubai. It has three AI categories (short film, commercial and music video), and entry costs $50, or $35 for students.

AI Film Festival Africa (AIFFA) closes October 31 at 11:59 PM Antananarivo time. It takes films up to 15 minutes that answer one question: what does Africa look like in 2063? Selected films screen in Antananarivo, Madagascar, with November 28 listed as the event date. No entry fee is listed on its FilmFreeway page.

Expo AI Film Festival Dubai has a final deadline of January 21, 2027, with the festival scheduled for March 2027 at Expo City Dubai. It takes AI shorts under 10 minutes on tiered FilmFreeway fees.

African AI Film Festival: free if you are based in Africa

The African AI Film Festival is a program of the African AI Arts & Culture Institute, which its site describes as a California nonprofit public benefit corporation. That explains the two-city premiere. Selected films screen in Hollywood on November 21, 2026 and in Kampala on December 12, 2026.

To enter, you need at least one "African connection." The lead filmmaker can be of African or diaspora heritage, the film can center an African story, or the project can be an African collaboration. AI has to be central to how the film was made, and entrants must be 18 or older, except in the Student & Emerging category, where under-18s can enter with a guardian's consent.

There are four categories with strict runtimes. AI Short Film and AI Animation each run 1 to 10 minutes, AI Documentary runs 5 to 20 minutes, and Student & Emerging runs 1 to 10 minutes. The festival gives out nine awards, including Best Director, a Cultural Resonance Award, Best Film by an African-Based Filmmaker and an Audience Award decided by public vote separately from the jury.

The regular free deadline passed on September 30. The late deadline is October 20, at $5 to $10, but the festival says entry is always free for filmmakers based in Africa and for Student & Emerging entrants. Winners and finalists get trophies and laurels, AI tool credits from sponsors the site names as Runway and Adobe, and access to mentors and pitch sessions. The jury listed on africanaifilmfestival.org is Amira Sayed (Egypt), Joan Kabugu (Kenya), T.J. Seaman (Nigeria) and Pauline Nabbosa (Uganda). Selection notices go out in early November.

AI Film Festival Africa: a 2063 brief from Madagascar

AIFFA is run by LeCinema and presented by Henrie Studio, with Andy Ratsirarson and Shalini Aggarwal listed as festival directors on FilmFreeway. Its 2026 challenge is "Imagine a Future Worth Building," and every film has to answer the question of what Africa looks like in 2063. 2063 is also the end year of the African Union's Agenda 2063, the continent's 50-year development plan, so that document doubles as a research brief.

The festival is open to anyone, anywhere: individuals, teams, students, studios and first-time filmmakers. You do not need to live in Africa, but your film must meaningfully explore Africa, its people, its cultures or its possible futures. Films can run up to 15 minutes, and dialogue must be in English or carry English subtitles.

AIFFA has the most unusual submission rule in this group. Your finished film has to be public on YouTube (private and unlisted links are rejected), with #SpecialForLeCinema in the title or description and @lecinemafilms tagged in the description. You then submit the YouTube link through FilmFreeway or lecinema.xyz. Plan for that before you enter: a public upload can count as a premiere for festivals that want first screenings, and the video has to stay public until AIFFA ends.

Prizes go to the top three films, as Best AI Film, the Africa 2063 Award and Audience Choice. Amounts have not been published. Hollywood VFX artist Bruno Vilela is the first named judge, with more to be announced. Notifications are due November 19.

Tel Aviv AI Film Festival: one day at the Cinematheque

TLVAIFF is a first-edition, one-day competition held on November 10 at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, inside Tel Aviv AI Week. Its FilmFreeway listing says the program is built around a creative bridge between Israel and India, with a delegation of Indian filmmakers attending as guests of honor. That is why one of its five awards is Best Cross-Cultural Film.

The five categories are Best AI Film, Best Storytelling, Best Use of AI, Best Cross-Cultural Film and Best Visual Achievement. Prizes are in kind, from festival partners, with no cash amounts published. Four categories are listed as free to enter, and Best Visual Achievement costs $5. You can submit two films at most, in any genre.

Two practical rules matter. The festival asks you to turn on download permission for your FilmFreeway project when you submit, and if you include a poster it wants print resolution at 50 x 70 cm, 300 DPI. Selected films can be used in festival promotion for 24 months, and the festival pays no screening fees. Notifications go out November 3.

Golden Dunes and the Dubai circuit

Golden Dunes International Film Festival is in its second year. It is a general festival with 16 categories, and three of them are for AI work: Best AI Short Film (under 30 minutes), Best AI Commercial (under 5 minutes) and Best AI Music Video. The festival says its AI categories are judged to the same standard as every other category.

The late deadline on FilmFreeway is October 20. Entry costs $50, or $35 for students, after earlybird pricing of $45 and $30 ended May 1. Official selections are announced November 12. Screenings run November 28, the awards ceremony is November 29 at Belcanto on the Dubai Opera rooftop, and panels and workshops fill November 30. Winners receive a 24-karat gold-plated clapboard. There is no cash prize.

The Expo AI Film Festival at Expo City Dubai is the other Dubai option, with a final deadline of January 21, 2027 and the festival planned for March 2027. Gulf News reported its launch as the region's first AI film festival. Its official site did not load fully when we checked, so confirm fees and rules on its FilmFreeway page before paying.

Dubai also hosted the biggest single AI film prize so far. The $1,000,000 AI Film Award, run by the 1 Billion Followers Summit with Google Gemini, went to Tunisian filmmaker Zoubeir Jlassi in January 2026 for "Lily," a French-language short made with Gemini, Veo, Imagen and Flow. Gulf News and Google's own blog reported 3,500 submissions. That cycle is over, and no 2027 cycle has been announced.

Festivals that already ran in 2026

Several regional festivals closed earlier this year, and most will likely come back, so they are worth tracking for 2027.

The Naija AI Film Festival in Lagos held its 2026 edition in September at Alliance Française Lagos. According to The Lagos Review, its first edition drew more than 400 submissions. Founder Obinna Okerekeocha runs it with an AI Academy for training. AI Cinema Festival Cairo screened at the Hilton Cairo Nile Maadi from September 18 to 20, with a Grand Prix Cairo and a Responsible AI Cinema Award. Africa AI Creativity Week & Awards ran April 7 to 9 in Marrakech, Morocco, alongside GITEX Africa. In Abu Dhabi, Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi ran an AI short film competition for UAE-based students that closed June 8, with winners screening at its 20th anniversary on October 28.

Which one fits your film

If you are based anywhere in Africa, enter the African AI Film Festival first. It is free for you, it has nine awards, and it screens in two cities. If your film imagines Africa's future, AIFFA lists no entry fee and gives you a clear brief, as long as you are fine with the film being public on YouTube.

If you want a jury outside the region and a hard deadline this month, Tel Aviv is the cheapest option in this group, with four free categories. If you made an AI commercial or music video, Golden Dunes is the only festival here with dedicated categories for both, though at $50 it costs the most.

Every deadline above sits in the next 30 days except Expo Dubai's. Read the full rules on each festival page before you pay, and check each contest card below for the live listing.