Eight AI film contests with deadlines from October 20 to December 15

Eight AI film festivals and contests are still taking entries. Every deadline, prize, fee and runtime rule below was checked on the organizer's own page on Friday, October 16, 2026, and entries run in deadline order, earliest first.

Two leads are missing. The Korea AI Cinema Festival keeps its deadline and fees on a submission page that would not load, and its October 31 date appears only in third-party directories. The November edition of the AI International Music Video Festival lists no closing date on its page.

Three contests pay cash: PixVerse's PixLight, with a $300,000 pool, Showrunner's Gossip Goblin Competition, with $20,000, and AI ZONE, with a $500 Grand Prize. The rest pay in trophies, laurels, screening slots and tool credits.

AI Film & Ads Awards Bali 2026

Bali is a stop on the AI Film Awards circuit from KM Universe, after Cannes and Venice, running with a São Paulo edition on November 6 to 8. The official site lists six film and advertising categories. Every film must be 100% generated with AI tools.

• Deadline: October 20, 2026 (regular); notifications October 21
• Prize: Crystal Brain trophy per category; no cash stated
• Fee: $30 to $35 standard, $25 to $30 Gold members, by category
• Runtime: short 0-5 min, long 5-90, documentary under 60
• AI rule: 100% of the film generated with AI tools
• Where to enter: FilmFreeway

African AI Film Festival 2026

The first US-based festival for African and diaspora filmmakers using AI screens in Hollywood on November 21 and Kampala on December 12. Its own site lists four categories and nine awards. AI has to be central, and every entry must disclose its tools.

• Deadline: October 20, 2026 (late); notifications early November
• Prize: trophies, laurels, Runway and Adobe credits; no cash stated
• Fee: $5 to $10 late; free for Africa-based and student entrants
• Runtime: 1-10 min (short, animation, student), up to 20 (documentary)
• AI rule: AI must be central; tool disclosure is mandatory
• Where to enter: FilmFreeway

AI International Film Festival, Hollywood

The festival traces itself to 2021 and runs monthly in Hollywood, where the October 21 deadline feeds a December 12 screening. Its site screens films one at a time, judged blind. It takes shorts and features, made with AI tools or about AI's consequences.

• Deadline: October 21, 2026 (regular); screens December 12
• Prize: certificate and laurels; trophy at $100 plus shipping
• Fee: no fee stated on the festival page or its FilmFreeway listing
• Runtime: shorts and features accepted, no cap stated
• AI rule: extensive use of AI tools, or a film about AI's consequences
• Where to enter: FilmFreeway

(UN)REAL AI Film Festival, Turin

A first edition from Feat Venture Studio, screening at Feat. House in Turin on November 27 and 28. The festival page is in Italian and wants films that could not have existed without AI. Six categories run from features to video art, and finalists are named November 14.

• Deadline: October 31, 2026; finalists announced November 14
• Prize: Grand Prix plus five other awards; no cash stated
• Fee: 50 euros per work on the entry form
• Runtime: no cap printed; entries filed by category
• AI rule: AI a significant creative element; English subtitles as an SRT file
• Where to enter: the entry form on unrealfilmfestival.com

PixVerse PixLight 2026

PixLight is PixVerse's annual contest and the biggest cash pool here: $300,000 across 33 awards, with a $100,000 Grand Prize. The contest page runs a 3 to 20 minute pilot track and a 45 to 90 minute screenplay track. PixVerse Canvas must be the primary creative platform.

• Deadline: October 31, 2026
• Prize: $300,000 pool; $100,000 Grand Prize, $50,000 Gold, $20,000 Silver
• Fee: none stated; a PixVerse account is required
• Runtime: 3-20 min (pilot); 45-90 min screenplay (script)
• AI rule: PixVerse Canvas must be the primary creative platform
• Where to enter: app.pixverse.ai/challenge/pixlight

Türkiye International AI Film Festival

T-AIFF is on its third edition, screening at the Atatürk Cultural Center in Istanbul on December 7 to 9. Its site takes fiction, animation and documentary, and awards a statuette to one winner in each of eleven categories, led by Best AI Film. Generative AI must run through the entire production process.

• Deadline: November 1, 2026
• Prize: statuette in each of eleven categories, led by Best AI Film
• Fee: free for Turkish national categories; a symbolic fee internationally
• Runtime: 20 minutes or under
• AI rule: generative AI through the entire production process
• Where to enter: FilmFreeway

AI ZONE International AI Film Festival

AI ZONE is an online festival in its second edition, run with the AI Zone platform. Its festival page names a $500 Grand Prize, open only to selected films that agree to publication on AI Zone, plus seven jury awards. Publication is non-exclusive and filmmakers keep all rights.

• Deadline: November 30, 2026; awards announced January 15, 2027
• Prize: $500 Grand Prize; seven jury awards; selection laurels
• Fee: no fee stated on the festival page or its FilmFreeway listing
• Runtime: no limit stated
• AI rule: AI a significant part of the creative process
• Where to enter: FilmFreeway

Gossip Goblin Competition

Showrunner runs this one inside a single fictional world. Every story starts with a client in a Ripper Doc's chair, a biomechanic who installs experiences directly into the mind. The competition page takes any genre, 2 to 20 minutes, and entries stay off social media until submitted.

• Deadline: December 15, 2026
• Prize: $20,000 total; $15,000 Best Film, $2,000 People's Choice
• Fee: not stated on the competition page
• Runtime: 2 to 20 minutes
• AI rule: made in Showrunner Studio, with the competition watermark
• Where to enter: showrunnerstudio.com/gossip-goblin