Kazakhstan is offering $1,000,000 for AI short films, and entry is a free YouTube link
The Astana AI Film Festival has extended its deadline to 31 August. A $1M fund across two competitions, nearly 2,000 entries from 90 countries already, and submission costs nothing.
The Astana AI Film Festival is running one of the largest prize funds in AI cinema: $1,000,000 across two competitions, with entry free and submission done through a single YouTube link. The deadline was 15 August, but organisers have extended it to 31 August 2026. If you have a finished AI short sitting on a drive, the cost of entering this one is roughly five minutes.
Kazakhstan has declared 2026 its Year of Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence, and AAIFF is the flagship cultural piece of that programme, backed by a board that includes the country's Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development. This is a state-supported festival with real institutional weight behind the fund, and the field reflects it: more than 1,900 submissions from over 90 countries so far, with the largest share from the United States at 17.8 per cent, ahead of India, Kazakhstan itself, and China.
Two competitions, five extra awards
The main event is the Thematic Competition, run under the theme "The Future Worth Living In", which carries the largest share of the fund. Alongside it sits an Open Competition accepting films of any theme, including previously completed work and films that have already played other festivals, judged across five awards: Best Directing, Best Visual Language, Best Story, Best Concept, and Best Character. Films may be submitted to both competitions.
What qualifies
Films run up to ten minutes, and generative AI must be integral to the creative process, not a VFX pass or an upscale on live action. Entries need English subtitles where dialogue requires them, and submissions disclose contributors and the AI pipeline used. All entries go through a technical and eligibility review before an international commission determines the official selection, with an independent jury deciding the awards.
Selected films screen on the big screen at the Chaplin Cinema in Astana, with the festival running in late September into early October alongside the Digital Bridge technology forum, and the business programme includes pitch sessions connecting creators with producers and investors.
Entering
Submission is free for 2026 and goes through the official festival site, where the entry form takes a YouTube link to your film plus a project description. One practical note: the organisers have not published an exact cutoff time or timezone for the 31 August deadline, so treat it as a date and submit with at least a day in hand.
Source: official festival site, deadline extension report, submission statistics.