Ankara is launching an AI film festival, and the only prize on offer is a laurel and a trophy
The inaugural Turquoise AI Film Festival in Ankara takes shorts, commercials and music videos up to 20 minutes. Entries close 10 December 2026. There is no cash prize.
A new film festival is opening in Ankara in January 2027, and it has a rule that will rule out a lot of work before anyone watches a frame. The AI has to be visible on screen. If you used a model to write your script, translate your dialogue or grade your colour, that does not count. The festival wants films where artificial intelligence is part of how the picture looks.
The Turquoise International AI Film Festival, known as Turkuaz, is an inaugural event, which means it has no track record to judge it by. What it does have is a clear brief, a worldwide call for entries and a screening date of 15 January 2027 in Ankara, Turkey. Submissions opened on 11 August 2026 and the official contest page lists the closing date as 10 December 2026.
What you submit
There are three categories: short film, commercial and music video. Whatever you enter must run for 20 minutes or less and must have been completed on or after 1 January 2025. Films that are not in English need English subtitles.
The central test is the on-screen one. AI must be a visually significant element of the film's visual language. The page is explicit that scripting, translation or colour correction alone do not qualify. Any AI tools are allowed, so you are not tied to a particular model or platform.
Entry is open worldwide, and the festival screens both international and national competition entries. Submissions go through FilmFreeway on the festival's entry page.
Prize structure
This is the part to read carefully. There is no cash prize. Winners receive Official Festival Laurels and the Turquoise AI Film Festival Trophy. That is the whole of it, as far as the page states.
So the value here is recognition and a screening slot at a first-year festival, not money. Whether a laurel from an untested event carries weight with programmers or clients is a judgement for each filmmaker. Laurels are useful for a film's poster and festival page, but they are not funding.
Terms worth reading
The entry fee is not stated on the contest listing, which says only to see FilmFreeway. Check the fee on the FilmFreeway page before you commit, because paid entry to a no-cash-prize festival is a real cost to weigh against the reward.
The listing does not describe the festival's licence terms, screening rights or how it may use submitted films in promotion. Those details sit in the festival's own FilmFreeway rules, which is where you should read them. Look in particular for any clause on public screening of your work, use of clips in marketing and how long those permissions last. Nothing on the summary page suggests a rights grab, but it also does not rule one out.
The listing was last verified on 19 October 2026 against the organiser's page.
Deadline and practicalities
The closing date is 10 December 2026. No cutoff time or timezone is published, so treat the day itself as unsafe and submit with a day in hand. Festival screenings are on 15 January 2027 in Ankara.
To enter, confirm your film meets the AI-on-screen rule, check the entry fee and rights terms on FilmFreeway, then upload through the entry page.
Source: Turquoise International AI Film Festival (Turkuaz), Ankara