5 AI film festivals and programs to enter or watch in November

Five AI film festivals and programs are still open to you in November 2026, either to enter or to watch. This is what you can act on now, ranked by how soon the date falls. Every deadline, screening date, fee and prize below was read off the organizer's own page as of November 9, 2026, from the soonest date to the last, except Cine Prague's prize, which comes from its FilmFreeway listing. The month leans toward watching: two of the five are screenings you can book a seat for, and the three calls to submit run from a free Google-backed training program to a Prague festival with a $1,000 Grand Prix.

Akuna Learning: From Script to Screen with AI (The Akuna Group)

Akuna Learning, the education arm of The Akuna Group chaired by Idris Elba, runs this program with Google, and the AI filmmaking school Curious Refuge built the curriculum. It is free to apply to and free to attend, and Google.org has put US$1 million behind it. The intake is open to creators who live in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone or South Africa.

Applications close on November 15, 2026, so this is the week to move. You pick one of five pathways (fiction, documentary, animation, advertising or screenwriting) and send one example of your best work in any discipline, up to three minutes for moving image. The twelve-week academy runs from February to April 2027, followed by mentoring, pitching and production funding for selected teams. You keep the rights to what you make.

• Type: Apply
• Closes: November 15, 2026
• Open to: Residents of Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and South Africa
• Cost: Free to apply and attend
• Backing: US$1 million from Google.org
• Apply: https://akunalearning.com/

If you already have a finished short, the next three are built around it.

Cue Film Fest: Cue Xmas '26 (Cue Film Fest)

Cue Film Fest runs several AI film editions a year, each with its own theme. The Christmas call takes AI short films and AI music videos between 2:00 and 6:00, and entry is free.

The deadline is November 20, 2026, at 11:59 PM ET. One rule catches most entries: the film needs multiple intentional shots shaped by your own edit, so a single unedited AI clip is not eligible. A committee picks ten short films and the top music video, announced December 1, and viewers and a jury score them 50/50. Cash awards go to Best Film, Best Image, Best Sound and Best AI Music Video, with the amounts not yet published. The ceremony runs December 12 on AFRO TV and NOW TV.

• Type: Enter
• Closes: November 20, 2026, 11:59 PM ET
• Cost: Free
• Runtime: 2:00 to 6:00
• Awards: Cash awards for Best Film, Best Image, Best Sound and Best AI Music Video (amounts not published)
• Enter: https://cuefilmfest.com/

If you would rather watch this month than submit, the next two are screenings.

AI London Film Festival (AI London Film Festival)

The AI London Film Festival shows AI-assisted and AI-generated shorts quarterly at the Close-Up Cinema in central London. It is run by festival director Erich Schultz, who taught filmmaking and screenwriting at the University of London and founded the London Independent Film Festival.

Its next edition screens on November 21, 2026, at the Close-Up Cinema. That is the part open to you this month: the festival's published deadline ladder ended on October 7, 2026, so the November date is a screening to attend. Tickets go through FilmFreeway.

• Type: Watch
• Screens: November 21, 2026
• Where: Close-Up Cinema, central London
• Submissions: closed October 7, 2026 (final deadline)
• Tickets: https://filmfreeway.com/ailondon/tickets

SSFF & ASIA 2026 Autumn: Online Grand Theater (Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia)

Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia, an Academy Awards-qualifying festival, folds a Generative AI x Short Film program into its autumn edition, and the online arm streams it worldwide.

The Online Grand Theater runs from November 9 to 22, 2026, with an overseas viewing passport at US$8 (the US$5 early-bird rate closed November 8). The AI lineup includes the world premiere of "PSY DIVER -Episode 1-", directed by the J-horror writer Ryuta Miyake and produced on TOPVIEW, plus "CENTER SPOT" (dir. Xu Xiang) and "Proof of Live" (dir. NIKO), and a CapCut AI Film Program of nine shorts.

• Type: Watch
• Window: November 9 to 22, 2026, worldwide online
• Pass: US$8 overseas (US$5 early bird closed November 8)
• AI premieres: "PSY DIVER -Episode 1-" (dir. Ryuta Miyake, on TOPVIEW), "CENTER SPOT" (dir. Xu Xiang), "Proof of Live" (dir. NIKO)
• Also: CapCut AI Film Program, nine shorts
• Watch: https://www.shortshorts.org/2026autumn/en/online/

Cine Prague AI Film Festival (Cine Prague)

Cine Prague is an international AI film festival in the Czech capital. For 2026 it takes short films of up to five minutes, made with AI or partly made with AI.

Cine Prague's own schedule dates the extended deadline November 18, 2026, the last tier, and lists November 28, 2026, as the notification date. The standard fee at the extended deadline is $50, up from $19 at the late tier. The festival's FilmFreeway submission page, where entries are filed, still lists its extended deadline as November 28, so the two pages disagree: use November 18, the date the festival itself publishes. The Grand Prix is $1,000, and category winners take a handcrafted trophy. The festival day is December 1, with daytime screenings and a finale across Kino Atlas and Kino Edison.

• Type: Enter
• Closes: November 18, 2026 (extended deadline on the organizer's own page; FilmFreeway lists November 28)
• Runtime: Up to five minutes
• Prize: $1,000 Grand Prix plus a handcrafted trophy
• Fee: $50 standard at the extended deadline
• Enter: https://filmfreeway.com/CinePrague