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Expo AI Film Festival Dubai 2027 · Guide

How to win the Expo AI Film Festival in Dubai.Under 10 minutes. Four equal criteria.

Expo City Dubai's AI film festival wants a short that uses AI in its text, audio or video, scored on four equal criteria. Its site shows no text without a browser, so the dates here come from listings: 21 January 2027, according to aifilmcontests.com. Meanwhile, start the screenplay in 熙熙.
Start writing for freeSee the scene
  • Deadline 21 January 2027 (listing)
  • Films under 10 minutes
  • Four criteria at 25% each
Voidborn · Episode 0

Independent guide. 熙熙 does not organise the Expo AI Film Festival and is not affiliated with Expo City Dubai. Rules read on 1 October 2026. Official festival site

Available today in 熙熙: free screenwriting, and a storyboard generated from your screenplay with the 年度会员, ¥168 一年.

Also available now: video generation of each shot, powered by Seedance, on the same 年度会员, with 3,000 张额度 一年.

The rules on one card

What the festival asks, as far as it can be read.

The festival is an initiative of Expo City Dubai. Its site is built in JavaScript and showed no text when we read it on 1 October 2026, so every line below says where it comes from.
Organiser
Expo City Dubai
Deadline
21 January 2027, according to aifilmcontests.com
Festival day
18 March 2027, Expo City Dubai, same source
Running time
Under 10 minutes (2 to 10 minutes in 2023)
AI requirement
AI in text, audio or video, any tool
Entry
FilmFreeway, tiered fees
Awards
Best Film, Best Director, Audience Choice, AI Choice
Prize
Official screening at Expo City Dubai, no cash amount found

Sources: aifilmcontests.com (verified 24 May 2026), the festival's FilmFreeway page as shown in search results, and the 2023 launch coverage by Khaleej Times, Al Arabiya and Expo City Dubai. aifilmfest.ae and the Dubai Film and TV Commission page returned no text. Check the live page before you pay.

Key dates

Sixteen weeks to the deadline.

From 1 October 2026 to 21 January 2027 spans exactly 112 days. These dates should be considered provisional estimates until they can be verified directly on the festival's official FilmFreeway listing, where submission windows and deadlines are published with authority.

  1. 14 May 2026

    First fee tier

    The listing dates its first tier from this day, according to aifilmcontests.com. Later tiers cost more, and their amounts were not readable.

  2. 21 Jan 2027

    Final deadline

    The last day to submit, according to aifilmcontests.com. It was verified in May 2026, so confirm it before you plan around it.

  3. Feb 2027 (expected)

    Shortlist and public vote

    In the first edition, a jury shortlisted ten films and the public voted on them for about 一年 before the ceremony. Expect the same shape.

  4. 18 Mar 2027

    Festival day

    At Expo City Dubai, according to aifilmcontests.com. Winners receive an official Expo City Dubai screening.

How films are scored

Four criteria, a quarter each.

The festival's FilmFreeway page outlines four evaluation criteria, each weighted at 25%, with jury members scoring every criterion on a scale from 1 to 10. This scoring structure was visible only through a search extract during our research, and may reflect the framework used in the festival's inaugural edition, so it's essential to confirm these details by visiting the current live page directly.

  • Film production quality

    25%

    Image, sound, edit and finish. A quarter of the grade is craft: stable faces, clean audio and no stray artefacts in a film short enough to be watched twice.

  • Narrative integrity and message clarity

    25%

    A story that holds together and says one thing clearly. In under ten minutes that means one character, one change and one message a stranger can repeat.

  • Innovative concept and creative exploration

    25%

    An idea that is new, not a template. Skip the standard AI openings, such as a camera drifting over a futuristic city, and start from something only you would write.

  • AI technique integration

    25%

    How well AI is built into the film, not how much. A quarter of the grade rewards AI used where it earns its place: a world, a transformation, a voice. Describe your method in the entry.

All four criteria carry equal weight in the scoring system, meaning no single strength can compensate for weakness elsewhere. A visually stunning film hampered by an underdeveloped story, or a conceptually brilliant piece with poorly executed sound design, will forfeit a full quarter of the available marks in that respective category.

Who decides

A jury, the public and a machine.

No jury names were visible on any of the pages we were able to access. The festival documentation outlines three distinct methods by which submitted films are evaluated, and notably, one of these evaluation methods does not involve human judgment.

  • An expert jury

    A jury scores each film from 1 to 10 on the four criteria and shortlists ten, according to the festival's listing. Write for people who watch many films: open on an image and a question.

  • The public vote

    The ten shortlisted films go to a public vote for the Audience Choice award. A clear emotion, a memorable title and a film that works on a phone screen help. Tell your own audience when the vote opens.

  • An AI tool

    In the first edition, a specialized AI tool selected the AI Choice winner. Whether that returns in 2027 is not stated. Either way, explain your method in the entry, since AI integration is a criterion of its own.

The four awards

One film, four ways to win.

The festival imposes no thematic restrictions on submissions. Its four awards represent the targets filmmakers can pursue, and according to coverage from the 2023 edition, each entry is automatically considered for all four award categories. Each award card in the festival materials concludes with the strategic angle we would emphasize when positioning a submission.

  • 01

    Best Film

    The main award, for the film that scores best overall.

    Even scores win. Leave no weak quarter: story, craft, idea and AI each count the same.

  • 02

    Best Director

    An award for the direction of a film.

    In an AI film, direction is a series of choices: a framing, a rhythm, a held look. Show one consistent hand from the first shot to the last.

  • 03

    Audience Choice

    Decided by a public vote among the shortlisted films.

    A feeling in the first ten seconds. Prepare a poster frame and a 15 second clip that sell the film to people who have not seen it.

  • 04

    AI Choice

    In the first edition, chosen by a specialized AI tool.

    Write down how AI built the film. The method is part of the entry, so keep your prompts and versions.

The first edition

Lessons from the 2023 to 2024 edition.

The first edition opened in September 2023, took entries until 1 December 2023 and held its ceremony on 29 February 2024 at Expo City Dubai. Expo City Dubai headlined the result: South Korean and Italian entries took the top spots. Films of 2 to 10 minutes could enter.

  1. 01

    The field is global. Professionals and amateurs worldwide could enter, and the top places went abroad. Write for an international audience, and subtitle the film.

  2. 02

    The format is short. The first call took films of 2 to 10 minutes, and the 2027 listing says under 10. A tight film is the format, not a compromise.

  3. 03

    It is more than a contest. The first edition ran for almost six months, with talks, workshops and screenings. A film that joins it is part of a programme, so plan to show up.

Page to screen

Voidborn: a scene built to be read in seconds.

Four equal criteria reward a film with no weak side. The scene comes from Voidborn, episode 0, an anime pilot made by the 熙熙 team with Seedance. The page is followed by six shots, each shown as storyboard and final frame.

Logline. Every seven years, the Rift opens and swallows the world’s dreams. A swordsman sworn to a blind seer escorts her through its levels, toward a promise they made to a girl left behind.

Screenplay · episode 0 · English subtitles

EXT. RUINS OF THE FIRST LEVEL - NIGHT

Broken towers under a violet sky. SIM, a swordsman in a black cloak, walks beside LADY MARIA, blindfolded, all in white.

SIM

Tell me, Maria... do you think Leia believes we are still alive?

MARIA

We made a promise... the two of us.

A line of white automatons rises from the ruins.

AUTOMATON

The Rift will wait for no one.

SIM

What are machines doing at this level?

One automaton steps forward. Its face is blank.

AUTOMATON

We must return to the surface.

Its eyes ignite red.

SIM

I am Sim, guardian of Lady Maria... and I will proceed with your execution.

Steel meets steel. Lightning runs down the blade.

CUT TO:

  1. A swordsman in a black cloak and a blindfolded woman in white walk through ruins at night
    Storyboard frame of the wide shot, in grey
    01

    Wide · the pair

    Wide shot, a bald swordsman in a black cloak and a blindfolded red-haired woman in white walk through night ruins

  2. Medium two-shot of a bald swordsman and a blindfolded red-haired woman
    Storyboard frame of the two-shot, in grey
    02

    Two-shot · the promise

    Medium two-shot, the swordsman and the blindfolded seer side by side, violet night sky, broken towers

  3. Three white humanoid automatons stand in night ruins
    Storyboard frame of the automatons shot, in grey
    03

    Wide · the machines

    Wide low angle, three white humanoid automatons standing in the ruins, cold blue moonlight

  4. Close-up of a white automaton with a smooth blank face
    Storyboard frame of the blank face close-up, in grey
    04

    Close-up · the blank face

    Close-up on an automaton's smooth faceless head, black eye slots, cables at the neck, ruins behind

  5. A white automaton's eyes glow red
    Storyboard frame of the red eyes close-up, in grey
    05

    Close-up · the red eyes

    Same framing, the automaton's eyes ignite red, the swordsman's shoulder out of focus in the foreground

  6. A swordsman strikes with a katana wreathed in lightning and sparks
    Storyboard frame of the clash shot, in grey
    06

    Action · the clash

    Dynamic low angle, the swordsman strikes with his katana, lightning running along the blade, sparks, cape flying

Voidborn, episode 0 is 13 minutes long, so for this festival we would cut it under 10, the limit in the 2027 listing. The 熙熙 team's film won 1st Place Silver and 2nd Place 熙熙 at the Mondial Chroma Awards, and an award at the Seoul International AI Film Festival. Press play to see where this scene sits in the film.

The script

Eight minutes, five movements.

The 2027 listing says under 10 minutes, so aim for 8 minutes: about 8 screenplay pages and 70 to 100 shots of 4 to 6 seconds. That leaves two minutes of margin for credits and for any change of rule.

  1. 0:00 to 0:40

    The hook

    One image and one question. The jury has a stack of films to score.

  2. 0:40 to 2:10

    The wish

    Who we follow and what they want, in as few shots as the story allows.

  3. 2:10 to 5:30

    The squeeze

    Pressure builds. Show the AI doing what a camera could not, and keep the same faces.

  4. 5:30 to 7:00

    The choice

    The moment the message lands. Let the sound carry it.

  5. 7:00 to 8:00

    The afterimage

    A last frame that stays with the viewer, then the credits.

The narrative criterion asks for message clarity. Write your message in one sentence before the screenplay, and test it on a stranger after the rough cut.

Week by week

From the blank page to FilmFreeway.

The deadline is 112 days away. That is enough to make a short film properly, if you start with the screenplay and not with the prompts.
  1. 01

    October

    Concept and message

    Write ten loglines and keep the one whose message fits a sentence. Read the live rules at aifilmfest.ae/legal and aifilmfest.ae/faq, which we could not read here.

  2. 02

    November, weeks 1 and 2

    The screenplay

    Eight pages. Write it free in 熙熙 in industry format, then read it out loud against a stopwatch.

  3. 03

    November, weeks 3 and 4

    Characters, sets, storyboard

    Fix each character and each set once, then generate the storyboard from the screenplay. Show it to someone who has not read the script.

  4. 04

    December

    Generate the footage

    Scene by scene, with Seedance in 熙熙 or with another tool, since the festival names none. Keep prompts and versions for the entry.

  5. 05

    First half of January

    Edit, sound, subtitles

    Cut to under 10 minutes, mix the sound and add English subtitles. A quarter of the marks are for production quality, and sound is where many AI films lose it.

  6. 06

    By 21 January 2027

    Submit on FilmFreeway

    Confirm the final deadline and the fee tier on the live page first. Add a short description of your AI method, and check the rules on prior release before you post the film anywhere.

Ways to lose marks

Seven traps in an unreadable rulebook.

Few official rules were readable, so these traps come from the listings, the first edition and the way the festival scores. Read the live guidelines before you pay.

  • Trusting an aggregator's date

    The 21 January 2027 deadline comes from a listing site verified in May 2026. Confirm the date on FilmFreeway before you plan around it.

  • A film over 10 minutes

    The 2027 listing says under 10 minutes, and the first call said 2 to 10. Do not assume the credits are free: aim for 8.

  • AI as a token shot

    The film must use AI in its text, audio or video, and AI integration is a quarter of the grade. One AI shot in a filmed story earns little of it.

  • A weak quarter

    Four criteria weigh 25% each. Rough sound, a thin story, a template idea or a shallow use of AI each costs a quarter of the marks.

  • No method in the entry

    The AI Choice award and the AI criterion both look at how AI was used. Describe tools and stages in the entry: a prompt log is the best proof.

  • Unchecked rights

    We could not read the festival's legal page, which carries the guidelines. Until you have, assume the usual limits on real faces, logos and music rights, and check every shot for a logo a model added by itself.

  • Missing the vote

    The ten shortlisted films go to a public vote, as in the first edition. A film with no audience of its own gets few votes. Plan your promotion for February.

Why 熙熙

A short, four criteria, one connected project.

The festival imposes no AI tool, so what counts is the film and how well AI is woven into it. 熙熙 keeps screenplay, storyboard and footage in one connected project, which is where that weaving is planned.

  • Story first

    Half of the marks go to narrative and concept. The screenplay is free in 熙熙, and the storyboard follows from it before any footage is generated.

  • A method you can describe

    Every shot is tied to its scene, its frame and its prompt, so the AI integration criterion has evidence behind it.

  • Consistency for eight minutes

    References for characters and sets keep faces and light stable across a hundred shots, which is where production quality is won.

  • Start for free today

    The 免费档 costs nothing and does not expire. The 年度会员 is ¥168 一年, with the storyboard and Seedance video generation both included.

Real productions

International festival-recognized films have been written and produced with 熙熙.

熙熙 already serves as a production workspace for real AI film projects in active festival circuits: creators have used it to develop cinematic shorts and animated series pilots that earned selections, nominations, and awards at international film festivals.

  • Video thumbnail for VOIDBORN

    VOIDBORN

    AI animated / cinematic short

    Festival recognition

    • 1st Place Silver

      Mondial Chroma Awards

    • 2nd Place 熙熙

      Mondial Chroma Awards

    • Award Winner

      Seoul International AI Film Festival

  • Video thumbnail for Les Fils du Vinnana

    Les Fils du Vinnana

    AI short film

    Festival recognition

    • Honorable Mention

      Top Quark Film Festival

    • People's Choice Nominee

      Illuminate Oneness of Humanity

    • Nominee

      ALTFF Supershort

  • Video thumbnail for Lost Garden

    Lost Garden

    AI animated series pilot

    Festival recognition

    • Finalist

      AI London Festival

See what creators are building

The pipeline

Write. Board. Produce.

  1. 熙熙 screenplay editor: acts, sequences and beats above the formatted script of The Yellow Umbrella

    01The screenplay, enriched

    An industry-standard screenplay editor, and more: a visual outline and beat editor, your writing inspirations (notes, photos, audio) kept next to the page, and an AI researcher to support your writing, not replace it.

  2. 熙熙 storyboard: shot S3 of The Yellow Umbrella with characters, shot settings and the script beside it

    02The storyboard, made easy

    Shot breakdown generated from your screenplay, manual control over every shot (frame, angle, movement, duration), and generative AI previsualization in one click.

  3. 熙熙 production canvas: shots S3 and S4 as connected nodes carrying their storyboard panels and prompts

    03AI production, with finesse

    Footage generation pipelines connected to your screenplay and storyboard. Optimized out of the box, fully editable workflow.

More AI film festivals

Guides for other festivals

Go further

Guides for festival films

FAQ

The Expo AI Film Festival, your questions

How do you win the Expo AI Film Festival in Dubai? The festiv
al scoring structure allocates four criteria at 25% each: film production quality, narrative integrity and message clarity, innovative concept, and AI technique integration. Half the evaluation weight rests on story and idea, so craft a cohesive film under 10 minutes with one clear central message. What is the deadline? According
to aifilmcontests.com, ver
ified on 24 May 2026, the final submission deadline falls on 21 January 2027 and the festival day is scheduled for 18 March 2027. The official site could not be read at the time, so confirm the dates on the festival's FilmFreeway page. How long can the film be? The 2027 lis
ting caps runtime at under 10 m
inutes. The inaugural call accepted films of 2 to 10 minutes. Target around 8 minutes to maintain a comfortable margin. Which AI tools a
re allowed? Any AI tool is permit
ted. The listing states AI may be employed in text, audio or video generation, and our research found no mandated platform and no minimum AI share requirement. Describe the tools and production stages in your
submission entry. Who
is on the jury? No jury member names appeared on the pages we could access. According to the festival's official listing, a jury scores each film from 1 to 10 across the four criteria and shortlists ten finalists. The shortlist then advances to a public vote for the Audience Choi
ce award. What can yo
u win? In the first edition the awards included Best Film, Best Director, Audience Choice and AI Choice, with every entry considered for all four categories. The 2027 listing mentions an official screening at Expo City Dubai and recognition. We found no published cash prize a
mount. Is the festival only in Dubai?
It operates as a hybrid event. The inaugural edition took place at Expo City Dubai and online, featuring talks and workshops, and filmmakers worldwide were eligible to enter. In 2024 the top awards went to South Korean and Italian entries.

Sixteen weeks. Start with the page.

The screenplay is free today. Storyboard it next, then build the actual footage inside the same project without switching tools.
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