A Paris festival is offering 10,000 euros across three prizes for short films that use AI to explore human rights
We Are Human Festival invites filmmakers worldwide to submit 1–10 minute hybrid human/AI works exploring Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with screenings in Paris, New York, São Paulo and beyond.
There is a quiet contradiction at the heart of the We Are Human Festival's call for films: it asks creators to use artificial intelligence, one of the technologies most frequently cited as a threat to human dignity, as a means of illuminating what human dignity actually means. The festival, held at Forum des Images in Paris on 24 November 2026, invites filmmakers, artists and creators from around the world to make original short works between one and ten minutes long that engage with Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the declaration that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
Selected films will not simply screen in Paris and disappear. The festival has announced an international touring programme taking works to New York, São Paulo, Johannesburg and Geneva, giving accepted films a genuinely broad public life. There is also an unusual documentation requirement baked into the selection process: every film must be accompanied by an Ethics Notebook, a written record of which AI tools were used, what role the human creator played, and what ethical choices were made along the way. That notebook is presented alongside the film at the festival itself, making the creative process as much a part of the exhibition as the finished work.
What you submit
Entrants must submit an original, previously unreleased audiovisual work of between one and ten minutes. The work must be a hybrid production, meaning it must involve genuine human direction and creative authorship; fully AI-generated films submitted without meaningful human creative control are explicitly ineligible. Any AI tools may be used as creative partners within that framework. The Ethics Notebook documenting your tools, your role and your ethical approach is mandatory and must accompany the submission. Entry is free.
Prize structure
The festival awards a total of 10,000 euros across three prizes:
- Grand Prix: 5,000 euros
- Meilleur Scénario (Best Screenplay): 3,000 euros
- Prix de l'Éthique (Ethics Prize): 2,000 euros
All prizes are cash. There is no entry fee.
Terms worth reading
The festival has not published a detailed public rights agreement on the tracker page, but submitting a film to a festival of this kind typically involves granting the organiser a licence to screen and tour the work. Creators should review the full terms on the official submission page before uploading. The Ethics Notebook requirement is not optional; it is presented publicly with the film, so any AI tool usage and creative methodology you document will be shared with festival audiences. Creators who prefer to keep their process private should factor this in before applying.
Eligibility is global and open to anyone aged 18 or over. The submissions window opened on 1 June 2026 and closes on 30 September 2026. No cutoff time is published, so submit with at least a day in hand to avoid last-minute technical issues.
Full details and the entry link are available on the We Are Human Festival call for films page. The organiser's submission portal is at wearehuman.foundation/en/Cal.