AI Film Festivals in Dubai 2026-2027: The $1M Award, Golden Dunes and Expo City

Your film must run 5 to 7 minutes and at least 70% of it must be generated with Seedance. The city's other AI screen this season is the Golden Dunes Dubai International Film Festival, whose entries closed October 20 but whose three AI categories screen in Downtown Dubai from November 28 to 30. A third event, the Expo City Dubai AI Film Festival, is listed with a January 21, 2027 deadline, but as of November 4 its official pages do not confirm a 2027 edition. We read each official page on November 4, 2026.

The Dubai AI film calendar, November 2026 to March 2027

Here is every Dubai date a filmmaker can act on, in order:

November 12, 2026: Golden Dunes announces its official selections. November 20, 2026: AI Film Award 2027 submissions close (the rules give no time zone, so treat it as end of day Dubai time, UTC+4, or earlier). November 28 to 30, 2026: Golden Dunes screenings, awards and panels in Downtown Dubai. December 15, 2026: AI Film Award Top 10 announced and public voting opens. December 25, 2026: AI Film Award Top 5 announced. January 8 to 10, 2027: 1 Billion Followers Summit. Per the award FAQ, the Top 5 premiere on January 9 and the $1,000,000 winner is named on January 10. January 21, 2027: listed final deadline for the Expo City Dubai AI Film Festival (unconfirmed, see below).

If you can finish one 5 to 7 minute film in the next 16 days, Dubai is the only place on this list where that film can still win something.

The $1,000,000 AI Film Award 2027: what the rules actually say

The award is run by the 1 Billion Followers Summit with TikTok as partner and BytePlus Dreamina Seedance as the powering tool. Entry is free, open worldwide to anyone 18 or older, and you can enter more than one film as separate applications. Each film must be an original work made for this award.

The technical spec is strict. Films run 5 to 7 minutes and tell one complete story. Delivery is 16:9 horizontal, 1080p, MOV or MP4. Any language is allowed but English subtitles are required, and the official intro has to sit before your film. You submit through a four-step form on 1billionsummit.com: who you are, the film, how it was made (including an AI tools disclosure), and a final review. You paste a private or unlisted link to the finished, subtitled film.

The 70% rule is about Seedance specifically, not AI in general. At least 70% of the final film must be generated with Seedance as the main video tool. Other AI tools and normal post-production can support it, and you may add original live-action footage as long as the 70% threshold still holds. A film built mostly in Runway, Kling, Veo or Sora does not qualify, however good it is.

Pick one of five themes: Society, Community and Humanitarian Issues; Truth, Fake News and Misinformation; Humans and AI; Climate, Nature and Our Changing Planet; or Human Relationships.

The first round is scored out of 100: AI Integration 30, Storytelling 30, Creativity and Aesthetic 20, Technical Execution 20. Responsible AI use is a pass-or-fail eligibility check, not a score. From the Top 10, an international committee judges story, originality, character, structure, visual creativity and use of Seedance, and the public votes too. The prize is paid by bank transfer within 60 days of the announcement, after identity checks, and the winner pays any tax due. You keep ownership of your film and grant the summit a non-exclusive license to screen and promote it.

What the 2026 winner tells you about the 2027 award

The first edition ran on Google's tools. Tunisian filmmaker Zoubeir Jlassi won the $1,000,000 for Lily, a nine-minute French-language short about a lonely archivist, named after his daughter. Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, chair of Dubai Culture, presented the award at the fourth summit in January 2026, per WAM, the UAE state news agency. Coverage at the time put entries at about 3,500. Arab News, Khaleej Times and Gulf News covered the win, and Google announced it on its Middle East blog.

Three things changed for 2027. The tool moved from Google Gemini to Seedance. The length is now capped at 7 minutes, so a nine-minute film like Lily would not be eligible this year. And there are now five named themes instead of an open brief. What did not change is the shape of the prize: one film, one winner, one million dollars, with the result read out on stage in Dubai.

The lesson from Lily is that the jury rewarded a small, human story over spectacle. A lonely archivist is not a hard concept to explain in one line. If your idea needs a paragraph of lore before it makes sense, it will struggle in a field this large.

Golden Dunes Dubai: three AI awards on the Dubai Opera rooftop

Golden Dunes is a general international festival that added three AI categories: Best AI Short Film, Best AI Commercial and Best AI Music Video. Its site says these are judged to the same standard as its traditional categories. The festival runs November 28 to 30, 2026 in Downtown Dubai, and awards are presented at Belcanto on the rooftop of Dubai Opera. Winners across its fifteen categories receive a 24-karat gold-plated clapboard trophy.

The final deadline was October 20 ($50 standard, $35 student), so you cannot enter this year. One detail to check if you are attending: the site's 2026 calendar puts the awards ceremony on November 29, while its awards section says November 30. Official selections are announced November 12. If you entered, that is the date to watch. If you did not, Golden Dunes is still worth noting for 2027, because it is one of the few festivals in the Gulf that gives AI commercials and AI music videos their own trophies.

Expo City Dubai AI Film Festival: why we list it as unconfirmed

Expo City Dubai launched what Gulf News and Arab News called the region's first AI film festival in September 2023. Its FilmFreeway page, which we read on November 4, 2026, still carries that edition's rules: films of two to 10 minutes that use AI in text, audio or video, entrants 18 or older with a valid ID or passport, one submission per person, and four awards (Best Film, Best Director, Audience Choice and an AI Choice award picked by software). The page says finalists would be announced in January 2024.

Our directory lists a 2027 edition with a January 21, 2027 final deadline and a March 2027 event at Expo City. We could not confirm those dates on aifilmfest.ae, which returned no readable details, or on FilmFreeway. Treat it as unconfirmed until the official page shows 2027 dates, and do not pay a fee anywhere that is not linked from Expo City Dubai itself.

One clause matters if it does return in the same form. The 2023 rules asked entrants to grant an exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free license to the film's poster, trailer, synopsis, clips and stills for promotion. That is broader than most festivals ask for. Read it before you submit.

Abu Dhabi and the student route

Dubai is not the whole UAE story. Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi ran a three-minute AI short film competition, 20 Years, 20 Visions, for UAE high school students in grades 10 to 12 and undergraduates. It closed June 8, 2026 and screened winners at the university's 20th anniversary on October 28, with an internship at the Sorbonne Center for Artificial Intelligence as the top prize. It is closed and no 2027 call has been announced, but it shows the shape UAE AI film activity is taking: university and government institutions running short, themed calls tied to an event.

Should you enter the Dubai award or something else?

Enter the AI Film Award 2027 if you already work in Seedance or can learn it quickly, you can deliver 5 to 7 finished minutes with English subtitles by November 20, and one of the five themes fits a story you care about. The entry is free, so the only cost is time.

Skip it if your pipeline is built on another video model. Rebuilding a film in Seedance to hit 70% in two weeks usually produces a worse film. Free alternatives with the same November 20 deadline include the M.AI International AI Short Film Festival in Cagliari, Sardinia, which lists €5,750 in cash. If you need more time, the Gossip Goblin x Showrunner Competition pays $20,000 in total and closes December 15.

Whatever you choose, watch for duplicate listings of the $1M award. It appears on aggregator sites under names like Jingrui AI Creation Contest and AI Film Award 2027. They are the same competition. The only official submission form is on 1billionsummit.com.