BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 15. From October 1
to 3, Astana will host the Astana AI Film Festival, an
international event showcasing films created with artificial
intelligence. The competition received 8,067 submissions from 125
countries, with the largest number of submissions coming from the
United States, followed by Kazakhstan. The festival features a
total prize and investment fund of $2 million.
The Astana AI Film Festival (AAIFF 2026) will be held as part of
the Year of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence in
Kazakhstan and will be an integral part of AI & Digital Bridge
2026—the flagship event of AI MONTH. For three days, Astana will
bring together festival finalists, international jury members, and
global partners, while the competition films will be screened for
the public on the big screen free of charge.
Submissions for AAIFF 2026 are now closed. According to
organizers Almas Zhali and Aizatulla Hussein, entries were received
from 125 countries.
The top 10 countries by number of submissions include the United
States, Kazakhstan, India, China, South Korea, the United Kingdom,
Indonesia, Japan, Brazil, and France. Kazakhstani creators
submitted 829 entries, ranking second overall. The competition
features both emerging creators and established AI content creators
with audiences ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of
followers.
“Receiving 8,067 submissions from 125 countries demonstrates
that AI filmmaking has evolved from an experiment into a
fully-fledged industry with its own creators and teams. Since this
industry currently lacks established infrastructure, we aim to
build it right here in Kazakhstan. That is why we have integrated
investment capital alongside the prize pool: winning teams will
register local legal entities, become Astana Hub residents, and
continue their production from Kazakhstan. In doing so, we are
building a complete AI production ecosystem around the festival,”
said Almas Zhali, Founder and Chairman of the Board of AAIFF.
Competition Structure
Participants submitted short films with a minimum duration of
three minutes. A key requirement was the fully AI-driven format,
with artificial intelligence serving as the core component of the
creative and production process. All submitted entries undergo
mandatory plagiarism screening.
The theme of the main competition program is “The Future Worth
Living In.” The prize pool for this category totals $750,000, with
the Grand Prix winner receiving $450,000, while the second- and
third-place winners will receive $200,000 and $100,000,
respectively.
An additional $250,000 is allocated to the Open Section. Five
winners will each receive $50,000 in the following categories: Best
Character, Best Directing, Best Visual Language, Best Story, and
Best Concept.
The second half of the total fund—$1 million—is designated for
investment in the strongest teams from the competition program. The
investment capital was provided by Balaji Srinivasan, former CTO of
Coinbase, former General Partner at venture capital firm a16z, and
Founder of The Network School.
Teams will be selected based on the quality of the submitted
works, the level of their execution, and their potential in AI
production. Investment recipients will register legal entities in
Kazakhstan and become Astana Hub participants.
Thus, AAIFF is designed not only as a film competition. Its goal
is to help promising teams continue their work, attract
international expertise to Kazakhstan, and lay the foundation for
the development of the AI production market.
Who Will Join the International Jury
Former Director-General of UNESCO and former Minister of Culture
of France Audrey Azoulay, Dean of the Artificial Intelligence
Research Institute at China Film Group Ma Ping, Deputy Dean of the
Animation School at the Beijing Film Academy Wang Hao, Balaji
Srinivasan, and a representative of BytePlus have confirmed their
participation on the jury.
BytePlus—the B2B division of ByteDance Corporation—is the
festival’s technology partner. ByteDance is known as the creator of
TikTok and CapCut and the developer of the Seedance generative
video model. As part of the partnership, 25 finalists will receive
a one-year subscription to the DRAMAGIC content generation platform
with a package of 60,000 credits.
Where to Watch the Competition Films
AAIFF will be presented at AI & Digital Bridge 2026 with a
dedicated booth and business program. The festival will become part
of Creative Bridge—a track exploring the impact of artificial
intelligence on cinema, music, visual art, media, fashion, and
storytelling. The festival program is available on the official
AAIFF page.
Screenings of the competition films will begin on October 1 at
Chaplin Cinema. Admission is free with a ticket booked in advance.
The festival program will also include an opening ceremony and a
gala dinner with an awards ceremony for the winners. The
competition results will be announced on October 3 at AI & Digital
Bridge 2026.
AI & Digital Bridge 2026 will bring together more than 20,000
participants and over 100 technology companies. Key headliners of
the forum include Yerzat Dulat, Co-Founder of Higgsfield AI, and
Balaji Srinivasan, Founder of The Network School.
Visitors can also expect business sessions, a technology
exhibition, Startup Alley, the Astana Hub Battle finals, the AI &
Digital Bridge Awards, demonstrations of AI solutions and robotics,
as well as creative industry projects and GameDev.
On October 1, a special high-level program will be held for
heads of government agencies, international delegations, and
leaders of the technology industry. Attendance on this day is by
invitation only. On October 2–3, the forum will be open to ticket
holders.
AI & Digital Bridge 2026 is made possible through the
support of the forum’s partners and sponsors. All forum expenses
are covered by sponsorship funds. Gold Partners are Freedom Bank,
Kaspi.kz, and Samruk-Kazyna JSC. Silver Partner is Halyk Bank.
Transformation Partner is Beeline Kazakhstan. Digital Partner is BI
Group. Official Airline Partner is Air Astana.
