AAFFAAFF / 2026
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Astana · Kazakhstan26.10 — 01.11.2026

New era of film-making

AAFF2026

Where filmmakers and machines co-create.
New authorship begins here — at the first international festival of cinema created with AI, held in Astana.

Submit your filmSee the roadmap
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01 / Roadmap

From
open call
to the first frame.

AAFF 2026 runs from February to November — six stages that take a work from first prompt to the festival stage in Astana.

STAGE / 0101.02.2026

Open Call

Submissions open worldwide. Filmmakers, digital artists and AI-native studios send works in four tracks.

STAGE / 0201.06.2026

Submission Deadline

Last day to submit. Works go through technical review and curator eligibility.

STAGE / 0315.08.2026

Selection

International program and jury curators select the Official Selection across nominations.

STAGE / 0415.09.2026

Shortlist Announced

Finalists revealed publicly. Press and industry access opens alongside partner previews.

STAGE / 0526.10.2026

Festival Opens

Opening night in Astana. Seven days of screenings, retrospectives, panels and AI-cinema labs.

STAGE / 0601.11.2026

Awards Ceremony

Grand Prix, Best Director, Best AI-Native Short, Audience and Industry awards. New authorship, honored.

02 / Contest

Six
nominations.
One new era.

AAFF honours authorship in AI-created cinema across six tracks — from full features to generative experiments.

01≥ 40 min

Grand Prix — Feature AI Cinema

Full-length works co-created with AI. Vision, authorship and narrative ambition lead.

Prize$50,000
02≤ 20 min

Best AI-Native Short

Short-form films where generative tools shape the craft — not just the finishing.

Prize$15,000
03any

Best Director

Recognises the human at the helm — the author whose decisions bend the model to intent.

Prize$10,000
04≤ 30 min

Experimental / Generative

Unclassifiable works. Abstract, procedural, non-narrative or pipeline-as-artwork.

Prize$8,000
05official selection

Audience Award

Voted by festival attendees and online viewers during the public program week.

Prize$5,000
06official selection

Industry Prize

Awarded by partner studios and platforms — a pathway from festival film to industry commission.

Prizeproduction grant
prompt / eligibility

> rules of admission

  • 01Work must be completed between Jan 2024 and May 2026.
  • 02Generative AI must be integral to creation — not only VFX or upscaling.
  • 03All contributors credited; model(s) and pipeline disclosed on submission.
  • 04Open to filmmakers worldwide, no age or experience restriction.
  • 05Submission fee waived for students and jury-nominated entries.

03 / Submission

Submit your work

Submissions are open. Four steps from finished film to AAFF 2026 Official Selection — no external platforms, no packets, no back-channels. Just a YouTube link and the work.

  1. 01

    Upload to YouTube

    Public or unlisted works both. Upload in at least 1080p and set the film's original title and credits in the description.

  2. 02

    Paste the link here

    One field, one link. We'll pull metadata and duration automatically — no packet, no platform logins.

  3. 03

    Pick a nomination

    Six tracks. Choose the one that best fits — curators may re-route entries across tracks at their discretion.

  4. 04

    Get your reference

    You'll receive a submission ID and email confirmation. Use it to check status or update your entry.

Submission formopen
Encrypted · no spam

04 / Jury

The
authors
who decide.

Eight voices — directors, curators, technologists and critics — from four continents. No algorithmic voting, no shortcuts. Cinema, judged by people who make it.

Aizhan Nurlan

KZ

Jury President

Director, Cannes Critics' Week alumna. Leads the Astana Film School's generative cinema program.

Rin Tanaka

JP

AI Cinema Curator

Curator, Tokyo Digital Arts Biennale. Previously head of research at Studio 101.

Diego Hernández

MX

Producer

Producer of award-winning documentary and narrative features. Co-founder of Lumen AI Studios.

Elena Varga

DE

Film Critic

Senior film critic at Sight & Screen. Author of 'The Machine-Lit Frame' (2025).

Askar Bekbolat

KZ

Director

Kazakh director whose AI-native feature opened Venice Orizzonti in 2025.

Nia Okonkwo

NG

VFX Supervisor

Emmy-winning supervisor. Pioneered diffusion-based pipelines for episodic television.

Marcus Feld

US

Composer & Sound

Composer working at the intersection of film score and generative audio systems.

Léa Moreau

FR

Festival Programmer

Former programmer, Rotterdam. Focus on experimental form and machine-authored narrative.