AI Film Festivals in London and the UK 2026: Seven Open Calls, Four Close in October

WAIFF London, the UK feeder for the World AI Film Festival in Cannes, takes late entries until October 23 and super-late entries until November 17. London AI Independent runs rolling monthly deadlines through June 2, 2027, and the MetaMorph AI Film Award 2027 closes May 15, 2027. Six of the seven accept films from anywhere in the world. WAIFF London is the exception: it only takes UK-based creators. Every date and fee below was checked against each festival's FilmFreeway listing or official site on October 3, 2026.

The short answer, festival by festival

AI London Film Festival closes October 7 and screens its selections at the Close-Up Cinema on Sclater Street in Shoreditch on November 14 and 15. Entry runs $15 to $25 depending on tier, and the final tier is the one still open. Notification comes October 16.

AIMA London, the AI Movie Awards, closes October 10 and holds its first UK edition at the IET, 2 Savoy Place, on November 7 and 8. It has 19 categories covering film, ads, music videos, music and AI art. Films must run longer than two minutes, except in the ad and art categories.

MetaMorph x TapNow Autumn Activation closes October 15. Entry is free, the winner gets £500 plus 20,000 TapNow credits, and at least half of the film has to be generated in TapNow.

I'Mpossible Film Festival closes October 20. It is an online festival run from London for AI films about memory, exile, censorship and stories that could never be shot with a camera. Winners are announced December 12, and the festival offers fee waivers to filmmakers facing financial or political barriers.

WAIFF London closes November 17 (late tier October 23) and holds its ceremony at the Bloomsbury Big Top on November 24. Five of its winners go to WAIFF Cannes 2027.

London AI Independent has its next deadline on October 29 and holds its main event at Sirlute Studios in Canary Wharf on June 19, 2027.

MetaMorph AI Film Award 2027 closes May 15, 2027, with a London ceremony planned for June 2027.

AI London Film Festival: the fastest route to a London screen

The AI London Film Festival is the closest deadline on this list and the most direct way to see your film projected in central London this year. It screens quarterly at the Close-Up Cinema, a small repertory house in Shoreditch, and each screening ends with a filmmaker conversation. Festival director Erich Schultz programmes from FilmFreeway entries only. The listing estimates around 100 submissions per edition, with 20 projects selected and eight awards presented, so roughly one entry in five gets a slot.

Awards cover Best AI Film plus drama, comedy, thriller, documentary, animation, horror, sci-fi and fantasy, along with audience awards. The submission categories are wider than most AI festivals: shorts under 10, 20 and 30 minutes, features over 30 minutes, music videos, and separate sci-fi and fantasy screenplay categories. The rules accept any film that used AI in writing, visual generation, animation or production, from any country, with English subtitles for non-English dialogue.

If your film is a tight drama or genre short made in Runway, Kling, Veo or Sora, this is the one to enter before Wednesday. Finalists from the summer edition posted reviews in July 2026, including a team representing Indonesia, so you do not need to be in London to get selected. You do need a high-quality screening file ready if selected.

AIMA London: a bigger room and a named jury

AIMA started in Magaluf, Mallorca in spring 2026 and moves to London for its second edition, produced with JD Media. The venue is the IET at 2 Savoy Place, on the Embankment next to Waterloo Bridge. The FilmFreeway listing says 50 projects will be selected and 14 awards presented.

The confirmed jury is the main reason to enter. It includes Tommy Harper, producer on Mission: Impossible, Top Gun and Wednesday; Mike Day, CEO of Palma Pictures and a producer on The Night Manager and The Crown; music video director Mike Ho; Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli; and Zack London, the AI filmmaker behind Gossip Goblin.

The rules are stricter than AI London's. Most of the creative process must be AI, though light finishing in After Effects or Premiere is allowed. Trailers and demo reels are rejected. Films need constant frame rates of 23.976, 24 or 25 fps and at least 1920x1080. Category options include Best Short Hybrid and Best Ad Hybrid for work that mixes AI with live action, plus Best Vertical Short for 9:16 films. Winners get a trophy or certificate, a distribution deal and partner prizes. Finalists get one festival pass, but travel and hotels are not covered.

WAIFF London: the only UK-only call, and a path to Cannes

WAIFF London is the UK edition of the World AI Film Festival, the French festival whose Grand Finale runs at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes. It is the only festival on this list restricted to UK-based creators, and it is open to anyone 13 or older, with parental consent under 18. Prior online release and earlier festival screenings do not count against you.

From 11 category winners, a jury picks five works to advance to WAIFF Cannes 2027 and names one WAIFF London Grand Prix. The categories are live action short, feature, advertising and commercial, music video, documentary, Masterpieces, vertical micro-series, and 3D Worlds for AR, VR, game cinematics and interactive work.

It is also the most expensive and most paperwork-heavy entry here. Fees are £55 at the regular tier, £75 at the late tier to October 23, and charged per category. Every entry must include a Production Journal listing the AI tools used, or it will not be reviewed. You also need documented consent for any recognisable face or voice, music cleared at sync, master and mechanical level, a 150-word synopsis, a 100-word director bio and full credits. The festival encourages C2PA Content Credentials on final files. If you are UK-based and want a shot at a Cannes screening, this is the clearest route available.

Free and low-cost options: MetaMorph and I'Mpossible

MetaMorph is a London awards brand founded by Ruby Griffiths and Stephan Baum, and it runs two separate calls. The MetaMorph x TapNow seasonal activations are free. Each one pays £500 cash to the winner, with 20,000 TapNow credits for the winner and 10,000 for the runner-up. Films run 30 seconds to 10 minutes, at least 50% must be generated in TapNow, and your TapNow canvas has to be set to public so judges can check the process. You can register on FilmFreeway, but the official submission goes through TapNow's TapTV Arena. The autumn round closes October 15 and the winter round opens October 16 and closes December 30. All eight seasonal winners and runners-up go forward to the MetaMorph Award 2027.

The main MetaMorph AI Film Award 2027 is a paid call (€18.86 to €38.54) with 15 categories. Two of them are split by budget so a £900 film is not judged against a £30,000 one. AI must make up at least half of the creative or production process, and hybrid live action is welcome. There is no cash prize.

I'Mpossible is the most focused festival on this list. Festival director Nima Pour built it around human-led AI cinema: documentary reconstruction, exile and memory, and stories that were censored or physically impossible to film. Categories include an AI Microfilm Award and an AI Exile & Memory Award. AI has to play an important creative role, and you must be transparent about how you used it.

London AI Independent: rolling deadlines for indie work

London AI Independent opened on FilmFreeway on September 27, 2026 and works differently from the rest. Instead of one deadline it has nine left, roughly every four weeks, from October 29, 2026 to June 2, 2027. The rules only ask that AI contribute meaningfully, through generation, animation, editing, sound or concept. AI does not have to dominate the film. Studio-financed work is excluded, and the maximum runtime is 60 minutes. Awards include Best Use of AI, which rewards the least obvious integration of a tool. The first screening and Q&A takes place at Sirlute Studios on October 4, and the main event follows on June 19, 2027.

What the UK picture looks like beyond festivals

The British Film Institute published AI in the Screen Sector: Perspectives and Paths Forward with the CoSTAR Foresight Lab, the first UK-wide study of generative AI across film, TV and games. Its authors, Angus Finney, Brian Tarran and Rishi Coupland, flag the opportunity for new voices alongside concerns about training data, reporting that more than 130,000 film and TV scripts have been used to train AI models. That tension shows up in festival rules here. WAIFF London requires likeness consent and rights clearance, AIMA puts all copyright liability on the filmmaker, and MetaMorph asks for AI in at least half the process so the award goes to real AI work.

Brands are paying for AI films on London cinema screens too. The Formula E Creators Challenge, run by the Bionic Awards with Google Cloud, closed September 30 and premieres its shortlisted 60-second Veo films at BFI IMAX on October 22. It is closed to new entries.

Which UK festival fits your film

If your short is finished and you want it on a London cinema screen before Christmas, enter the AI London Film Festival by October 7. Entry is $25 or less and the rules accept any AI workflow.

If you want industry eyes, AIMA's jury is the strongest in the UK this year. Enter by October 10, and pick a Hybrid category if you shot live action.

If you live in the UK, WAIFF London is the one festival that can put your film in Cannes. Budget for the per-category fee and start your Production Journal now.

If money is tight, the MetaMorph x TapNow rounds are free and pay cash, as long as you work in TapNow. I'Mpossible offers fee waivers for documentary and memory work. If you are still editing, London AI Independent's rolling windows give you until June 2027.

Check each contest card below for the live listing before you pay, because tier prices change on the deadline day.