A Panama City Festival Is Paying Up to €500 for Short Films Made With AI, and Entry Costs €6
IA Play's Panama stage takes AI-driven shorts up to 40 minutes. Entry is €6, the deadline is 1 February 2027, and winners can reach a €500 Grand Final prize.
A festival in Panama City wants films that were made with artificial intelligence in a way that matters to the work, and it will pay cash for the best of them. The IA Play International Film Festival's Panama stage accepts short films, animation, documentary, experimental pieces and hybrid work, up to 40 minutes long, from anyone in the world.
The money is modest but real, and the entry fee is small. Submissions opened on 5 September 2026 and close on 1 February 2027, which leaves roughly three and a half months from today. Winners at the Panama stage then move into a Grand Final among the festival's host cities, where the top prizes sit.
The official listing gives the full picture, and entries go through FilmFreeway.
What you submit
The festival is open worldwide to creators, digital artists, filmmakers and experimenters. Your film can be fiction, documentary, experimental, animation, or a hybrid of AI and traditional techniques. The listed categories are Short Film, Animation and Experimental.
Three conditions apply. The film must run no longer than 40 minutes. It must have been completed on or after January 2023. And AI has to be used meaningfully in the creative process, not merely as a technical aid. Any AI tools are allowed, so you are not locked into a particular generator or editor.
The festival itself takes place on 24 April 2027 in Panama City. Selected films are screened online, and a public and jury vote in Panama City feeds into the Grand Final.
Prize structure
There are two tiers, and each has a Jury Prize and an Audience Prize.
At the Panama stage:
- €250 Jury Prize, plus an NFT
- €150 Audience Prize, plus an NFT
At the Grand Final:
- €500 Jury Prize, plus an NFT
- €300 Audience Prize, plus an NFT
The prizes are cash, quoted in euros. The NFTs come on top of the money and are not a substitute for it. Every film that makes the Official Selection also receives a certificate, which has no cash value but may be useful for a festival CV.
The page does not say how the Grand Final prizes relate to the stage prizes, for example whether a stage winner also keeps the stage award after advancing. Check that with the organisers if it matters to your plans.
Terms worth reading
Entry is not free. The fee is €6 per submission, which is low for a festival but still means you pay to enter, and it is not refunded if you are not selected.
The NFT element deserves a look before you enter. If you have no interest in receiving a token, or you have concerns about how your film is represented on a blockchain, ask the organisers how the NFT is minted and who holds rights in it. The official page does not publish the full rules on rights, licensing or public disclosure of your work, so read the terms on the FilmFreeway entry page before paying. Online screenings mean your film will be shown publicly, which may affect any other festival with premiere requirements.
The page does not state a cutoff time on 1 February 2027 or a timezone. Submit with a day in hand, ideally by the end of January, to avoid being caught out by a regional cutoff.
To enter, go to the FilmFreeway page, upload a film that meets the length and completion-date rules, and pay the €6 fee.
Source: IA Play International Film Festival, Panama, on AI Film Contests