AI Film Festivals in Latin America 2026: Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico All Close in October

A fifth, Sin Cámara, is a free Spanish-language festival for creators in Spain and Latin America that stays open until May 5, 2027. Two of the four October festivals are open to filmmakers anywhere in the world, one is free for Brazilians only, and one accepts only Argentine nationals and legal residents. Every date, fee and rule below was checked against the festival's own site, FilmFreeway or Festhome listing on October 1, 2026.

The short answer, festival by festival

AI Film Awards Brasil closes October 6 and holds its ceremony November 6 to 8 at the Itaú Cultural auditorium on Avenida Paulista. Brazilian filmmakers enter free with a festival code, and every film must be 100% AI-generated.

WAIFF Buenos Aires closes October 9 at 23:59 and screens its finalists October 30 at the Centro de Convenciones Buenos Aires. Only Argentines and legal residents can enter, and the Grand Prix winner represents Argentina at the World AI Film Festival finale in Cannes in April 2027.

IA en Corto closes October 18 and runs online October 20 to 24. Entry costs $9 at the extended tier on Festhome, films can be in Spanish or English, and the film does not need to be fully AI-generated.

Todo es Prompt closes October 25 and runs online October 29 to November 4. Entry costs $4.50 until October 15 and $8 after that, and it takes AI features of 40 to 120 minutes as well as shorts.

Sin Cámara accepts uploads until May 5, 2027. It is free, it takes shorts of 30 seconds to 3 minutes in Spanish or without dialogue, and the public votes on the finalists.

WAIFF Buenos Aires: the Argentine road to Cannes

The World AI Film Festival is the largest network of AI film festivals running today. According to Olhar Digital's coverage of its Brazilian debut, WAIFF has drawn more than 1,500 submissions from 87 countries, with director Claude Lelouch as honorary jury president. Buenos Aires is its first Argentine edition, backed by the City of Buenos Aires through its Ministry of Economic Development.

The rules on worldaifilmfestival.com/buenos-aires are strict about who can enter. You must be an adult Argentine national or a legal resident of Argentina, or a company legally registered there. Individuals submit a DNI and companies submit a current ARCA registration. Films can be fully AI-generated or hybrid, mixing live-action footage with AI material, as long as AI plays a significant role in the creative process. Dialogue must be in Spanish with English subtitles, and the subtitles are mandatory. Deepfakes that imitate identifiable people without their permission are banned.

Entries opened September 15 at 10:00 and close October 9 at 23:59. The organizers check eligibility from October 10 to 16, the WAIFF Buenos Aires and WAIFF Global juries pick finalists from October 17 to 23, and selected filmmakers hear on October 27. The finalist screening and awards ceremony is October 30. The Grand Prix winner is invited to the WAIFF finalist screenings in Cannes on April 6 and 7, 2027, and the jury also picks the five best Argentine films for a Cannes 2027 sidebar called Caminito a Cannes. The official page does not publish an entry fee. For the full picture of how regional editions feed Cannes, see our WAIFF 2027 guide.

AI Film Awards Brasil: free for Brazilians, 100% AI only

AI Film Awards Brasil is the Brazilian edition of the AI Film Awards circuit run by KM Universe, which has held editions tied to Cannes, Venice, Dubai, Marrakech, Paris and Bali. The FilmFreeway listing says the Brazil edition is presented by Itaú and the Ministry of Culture's Secretariat of Culture, Creative Economy and Creative Industry. Brazilian filmmakers enter free with the code printed on the listing, one code per participant.

The rule that matters most: every entry must be 100% generated with AI. Hybrid films are out. Categories and running times are specific. AI Short Film runs 0 to 5 minutes, AI Long Film 5 to 90 minutes, AI Animation up to 90 minutes, AI Video Clip up to 5 minutes and AI Documentary up to 60 minutes. The advertising category splits into social media spots up to 1 minute, ads of 1 to 3 minutes and commercial films up to 5 minutes. There are also optional special awards, including Best Movie of the Host Country and Best Mobile AI Film, which requires proof the film was made entirely on a smartphone.

The final deadline is October 6, notifications go out October 9 and the event runs November 6 to 8, 2026 at Itaú Cultural. Selected films may also be programmed on the Itaú Cultural Play and Wedo Entertainment streaming platforms, and entering means you accept that. The Crystal Brain trophy is handed over only to winners of the seven main categories who attend in person; anyone else pays for the trophy and shipping. Read the reviews on the listing before paying if you are not Brazilian: one past entrant complains that the circuit renames itself from city to city and that paid entries come back as Selected without much scrutiny. For Brazilians entering free, the cost of trying is zero.

IA en Corto: Chile's online festival for hybrid AI shorts

IA en Corto is an online festival with a Santiago, Chile address on Festhome, now in its second edition. Its main rule is the opposite of the Brazilian one. Your short does not have to be fully AI-generated, but AI has to be relevant and creative, not technical or incidental. The festival's own phrase is that it supports cinema made by people who use AI as a tool. That makes it one of the better fits in the region for filmmakers who shoot live action and use Runway, Kling or Veo for selected shots, or who use AI only for sound design or the script.

There are four sections: AI Sci-Fi and Cyberpunk, Fiction and Animation, and Psychological Thriller, each taking shorts up to 30 minutes, plus a vertical section for AI works up to 2 minutes. Films can be in Spanish or English. Fees on Festhome have risen with each tier: $2 early, $4 standard, $5.50 late until October 4 and $9 extended until October 18. Festhome Annual Pass holders pay less. You can also submit through Movibeta.

There is no cash prize. First place gets sales and distribution consulting from Inside Films, second place gets a seat in a live training program on AI short films built around ByteDance's Seedance 2.5, and third place gets 10,000 FilmSpark AI credits. Laurels go out in eight categories, from Best AI Short Film to Best AI Sound Design, every Official Selection film gets an editorial feature on the festival site, and the director of the Best AI Short Film is invited onto next year's jury. Notifications go out October 19 and the festival runs October 20 to 24.

Todo es Prompt: Mexico City, features welcome

Todo es Prompt, also listed as All Is Prompt, is an online festival registered in Mexico City's Miguel Hidalgo borough and now in its second edition. It is one of very few AI festivals anywhere that takes feature-length work. Shorts run up to 30 minutes and AI features run 40 to 120 minutes, in any genre and any language. The festival describes its stance as human authorship amplified by AI tools.

Fees on Festhome are low: $2.50 early, $3.50 standard, $4.50 late until October 15 and $8 extended until October 25. Notifications go out October 26 and the festival runs October 29 to November 4. There is no cash prize. Selected filmmakers get an editorial feature with a director interview, written feedback on narrative structure and creative direction, a digital laurel and certificate, and access to the festival's community chat. Special awards cover Best AI Storytelling, Best AI Art Direction, Best AI Cinematography, Best Visual World or Universe, Best Integration of AI into the Creative Process and Best Sound. If you have a long-form AI project made in Sora, Kling or Hailuo and nowhere to send it, this is the cheapest place in the region to get it seen.

Sin Cámara: free, Spanish-language, voted by the public

Sin Cámara is a Spanish-language AI short film festival run by Aplimedia, a software company in Bilbao, for creators in Spain and Latin America. Its second edition accepts uploads until May 5, 2027 at 23:59, public voting runs until May 31, and the awards gala is set for June 2027 with the date to be confirmed. The rules on sincamara.click say participation is free, entrants must be 16 or older, and films must be in Spanish or have no dialogue, running between 30 seconds and 3 minutes. Any AI tool is allowed; the site names Grok, Sora, Runway and Midjourney.

Prizes go to the top three films and the best short in each genre, including animation, comedy, drama and horror, with amounts to be announced. One rule to read before uploading: you grant the organizer free, non-exclusive rights to your film. Non-exclusive means you can still send it elsewhere. Sin Cámara is the only festival on this page with a deadline in 2027, so it is a sensible target for a film you start now.

What already happened in 2026

Latin America's AI film calendar started in earnest this year. WAIFF Brasil held the region's first major AI film festival at FAAP in São Paulo on February 27 and 28, 2026, produced by UltraVioleta with FAAP and supported by Spcine, Bravi and Festival do Rio, according to IstoÉ. Its competition covered features, vertical series, advertising and short films in drama, animation, documentary and fantasy.

In Montevideo, Sticks n' Festival billed itself as Latin America's first AI filmmaking festival and ran May 28 and 29, 2026 at Life Cinema, with $2,500 for Best Film and special mentions for Best Uruguayan Film and Best Creative Use of AI. Its rules capped films at 12 minutes and required Spanish subtitles for films not in Spanish or English. In São Paulo, Cine AI Fest ran a national, Portuguese-language festival for fully AI-generated films, closed entries June 30 and held its event August 10, with awards for fiction, non-fiction, experimental and audience choice. It refused vertical video because its films screen in a cinema.

Expect most of these to return in 2027. We track each one and add the new edition as soon as dates are published.

Spanish speakers: two more options in Spain

If you make films in Spanish, two festivals in Spain are open to entrants worldwide. FESTIAV in Valencia closes October 4, pays €1,000 for Best Fiction AI out of €2,250 in category prizes and runs October 26 to 30. IA Play in Madrid charges €6, closes January 1, 2027 and holds its gala in March 2027. Our Europe guide covers the rest of that calendar.

How to choose

If you are Argentine, enter WAIFF Buenos Aires before October 9. It is the only festival on this list with a route to Cannes. If you are Brazilian, enter AI Film Awards Brasil free before October 6, as long as your film is fully AI-generated. If your film mixes live action and AI, IA en Corto is the best fit. If it runs longer than 40 minutes, Todo es Prompt is close to your only option. If you need more time, or entry fees are a barrier, make a 3-minute Spanish short for Sin Cámara. Every one of these deadlines is in our October roundup, and the subscribe form below sends you new Latin American festivals the day we add them.