AI London Film Festival 2026 offers theatrical screening at Close-Up Cinema for short films made with AI tools
Submit an AI-made short film by 7 October 2026 for a chance to screen at Close-Up Cinema in central London on 6–8 November, with laurels across eleven categories.
Close-Up Cinema in central London will host the November 2026 edition of the AI London Film Festival across three days, 6 to 8 November. Filmmakers who submit by 7 October are in contention for a theatrical screening alongside eleven category laurels, from Best AI Film and Best AI Director down to genre awards covering horror, sci-fi, fantasy, thriller, documentary, animation, comedy, and drama. An Audience Award round and post-screening filmmaker Q&A nights are also built into the programme.
The festival sits inside one of London's most consistently active venues for AI cinema, and the quarterly screening calendar means the community around it turns up in person. If your film lands a slot, you are not watching it alone on a laptop: you are in a room with an audience that chose to be there.
What you submit
The festival accepts short films created using AI tools at any stage of production, including writing, visual generation, animation, and general post-production. Films under 20 minutes are preferred. The organiser lists Runway, Sora, Veo, Kling, Luma, Pika, Midjourney, Higgsfield, and any other AI tool as acceptable, so there is no requirement to use a specific platform. The festival is open globally, with no stated nationality restriction.
Prize structure
The prize is non-cash. Winners receive a theatrical screening at Close-Up Cinema (6–8 November 2026) plus the relevant category laurel. The full set of awards is:
- Best AI Film
- Best AI Director
- Best AI Drama
- Best AI Comedy
- Best AI Thriller
- Best AI Documentary
- Best AI Animation
- Best AI Horror
- Best AI Sci-Fi
- Best AI Fantasy
- Audience Awards
There is no cash component listed on the page. The value here is the screening credit, the physical venue, and the Q&A access.
Entry fee and how to apply
Submission is handled through FilmFreeway at filmfreeway.com/ailondon. The entry fee is tiered: the regular tier closed 12 August, the late tier closed 9 September, so only the final tier remains, priced at $25 USD. The deadline is 7 October 2026; no cutoff time is published, so submit with at least a day to spare to avoid any timezone ambiguity.
Terms worth reading
The page does not reproduce the full terms and conditions, which will be available on the FilmFreeway submission page. Before submitting, check that document for any screening licence or promotional rights the festival claims over submitted work. Festivals commonly request the right to screen and promote entries in perpetuity for festival purposes, which is standard but worth confirming. The entry fee is non-refundable under most FilmFreeway festival policies regardless of selection outcome. No rights-grab language is visible on the aggregator page, but the FilmFreeway listing is the authoritative source.
The official contest page is at aifilmcontests.com/contests/ai-london-film-festival-2026. Submit via filmfreeway.com/ailondon.
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Source: https://aifilmcontests.com/contests/ai-london-film-festival-2026