AI CINEMA is a transmission from the near future.
A gathering point for filmmakers, prompt architects, visual hackers, dreamers, and digital misfits showing what happens when imagination stops asking permission from traditional tools.
Cinema changed with sound. With color. With digital.

Now it evolves again.
AI CINEMA celebrates stories born at the collision point of human emotion and machine possibility. Short films. Experimental visions. Animated fever dreams. Impossible worlds. Synthetic poetry. Narratives built from prompts, obsession, curiosity, and beautiful accidents.
A place where creators stretch the language of storytelling into strange new shapes.

Pop culture has always loved rebels.

Expect neon ideas. Beautiful chaos. Hyperreal emotions. Retro-future aesthetics. Films that feel like tomorrow remembering the 1980s through a corrupted dream.

Some works will be hilarious. Some disturbing. Some emotionally devastating. Some gloriously weird.

That’s exactly why this space exists.

AI CINEMA celebrates creators using artificial intelligence as a paintbrush, a co-director, a hallucination engine, a portal into unexplored visual language.

The future of cinema arrives glitched. Colorful. Emotionally charged. Unpredictable. Unforgettable.

Awards & Prizes

MAIN AWARDS

AI CINEMA Grand Prize
Highest honor of the festival. For the film that defines the spirit of next-generation storytelling.

Best Prompt
For the most extraordinary film created from a single master prompt or the most visionary prompt engineering concept.

Best AI Short Film
Outstanding overall short-form storytelling using AI tools.

Best AI Director
For exceptional creative vision, orchestration, and cinematic execution.

Best Human + AI Collaboration
Celebrating the most powerful creative synergy between human imagination and artificial intelligence.

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VISUAL / TECH AWARDS

Best AI Cinematography
For groundbreaking visual composition, camera language, and synthetic imagery.

Best AI Animation
For excellence in animated AI storytelling.

Best Visual Worldbuilding
For the most immersive universe, environments, and aesthetic vision.

Best Character Creation
For unforgettable AI-generated or AI-assisted character design.

Best AI VFX / Visual Innovation
For technical experimentation and next-level visual execution.

Best Editing / Synthetic Rhythm
For outstanding pacing, editing language, and cinematic flow.

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STORY / CREATIVE AWARDS

Best Screenplay / Story Concept
For the strongest narrative architecture and storytelling idea.

Best Experimental Film
For fearless formal experimentation.

Best Sci-Fi Vision
For the most compelling future vision.

Best Dark Vision
For dystopian / horror / unsettling psychological works.

Best Comedy Mutation
For weird, smart, or absurd AI comedy.

Best Music Video
AI-driven music storytelling excellence.

Best Micro Short
For ultra-short cinematic storytelling.

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SOUND / AUDIO

Best AI Sound Design
For sonic atmosphere and immersive audio creation.

Best Original AI Score
For exceptional music composition using AI workflows.

Best Voice Performance
For outstanding synthetic or hybrid vocal performance.

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SPECIAL RECOGNITION

Future Icon Award
For a creator whose work signals the future of cinema.

Digital Auteur Award
For a distinct creative voice in AI filmmaking.

Breakthrough Creator
For emerging talent.

Audience Choice Award
Chosen by viewers.

Jury Special Mention
For bold artistic achievement.

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CHAOTIC / ON-BRAND POP AWARDS

если хочешь фестиваль с характером:

Beautiful Glitch Award
For the most mesmerizing imperfection.

Dream Machine Award
For the most hypnotic visual experience.

Neon Nightmare Award
For unforgettable dark visions.

Synthetic Soul Award
For the most emotionally resonant AI film.

Reality Corruption Award
For bending cinematic reality in brilliant ways.

Rules & Terms

AI CINEMA — Rules & Terms

1. Eligibility
AI CINEMA is open to short, mid-length, and feature-length films of any genre that use artificial intelligence as a meaningful part of the creative process — generation, direction, animation, VFX, sound design, score, or post-production. All films must have been completed within the last 3 years.

2. AI Disclosure
Submitters must briefly describe which AI tools and workflows were used (models, prompt scope, human–AI division of labor). This disclosure is for context only and is not used for scoring.

3. Premiere Status
Premiere status is not required. Films may have been previously screened or awarded at other festivals.

4. Runtime
Films are selected based on artistic coherence and cinematic integrity, not duration. Categories: Micro (up to 5m), Shorts (up to 40m), Mid-length (40–60m), Features (60m+).

5. Language & Subtitles
Films in languages other than English must include English subtitles. Subtitles must be clear and readable.

6. Submission Format
Films must be submitted via a secure online screener. Final screening copies must be provided in a high-quality digital format upon selection.

7. Authorship & Rights
The submitter must hold all necessary rights to screen the film publicly, including music, archive footage, voices, performances, and training-data sources where applicable.

8. Selection Process
All films are reviewed by the festival curatorial team. Decisions are final and based on artistic merit and alignment with the festival's vision of next-generation cinema.

9. Screening & Presence
Selected films will be screened at the in-person event at Funamis, Montréal, on March 5, 2027. Filmmaker presence is encouraged but not mandatory.

10. Awards & Recognition
Films may be considered for multiple awards across the six award groups (Main, Visual/Tech, Story/Creative, Sound/Audio, Special Recognition, Chaotic/On-Brand Pop). Award decisions are made by the jury; the Audience Choice Award is decided by viewers attending the screening.

11. Use of Materials
By submitting, filmmakers grant the festival permission to use stills, trailers, and short excerpts for promotional and archival purposes related to the event.

12. Notification
All submitters will receive a decision by February 5, 2027 (Final Render — notification date), regardless of which deadline tier they submitted under.