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PROMPT Festival Toronto · Guide

How to win PROMPT Festival Toronto.Fifteen awards and one grand prize: Best Prompt.

Entries close on 16 April 2027, in ten rounds at the same price. The rules, what Best Prompt rewards, the six 2026 winners and a plan from October to April. Then plan the film in 熙熙: screenplay and storyboard first, Seedance footage after.
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  • Final round 16 Apr 2027
  • $15 at every deadline
  • Screening 16 May 2027
Lost Garden · Episode 2

Independent guide. 熙熙 does not organise PROMPT Festival and is not affiliated with it. Rules read on 1 October 2026. Official site

Available today in 熙熙: free screenwriting, then a storyboard built from your screenplay with 年度会员 (¥168 一年, 3,000 张额度).

Available now too: each shot generated as video, powered by Seedance, on the 年度会员.

The rules on one card

What PROMPT Festival asks for.

PROMPT Festival is a Toronto showcase of AI-native cinema. Its first edition screened in July 2026. Its ten rounds run to 16 April 2027, with a screening planned for 16 May 2027. The rules are short.
First edition
26 July 2026, Black Box, Scarborough, Toronto
Rounds
Ten, from 24 July 2026 to 16 April 2027. Next: Front Row, 16 October 2026
Entry fee
$15 at every deadline, or $10 with FilmFreeway Gold. Non-refundable
Results and screening
Notification 4 May 2027. Screening 16 May 2027
What qualifies
Any film where AI was used anywhere in the creative pipeline. All genres
Language
Non-English entries need English subtitles
Awards
A grand prize, Best Prompt, plus 14 categories
What winners get
Laurels, a place in the winners programme, category recognition. No cash prize listed

Source: promptfilmfest.com, read on 1 October 2026. The site prints no length limit and no jury. The venue shown, Black Box at 1085 Bellamy Rd N, Scarborough, is that of the July 2026 event: the site does not say where the 2027 screening will be.

Key dates

Ten rounds, one price.

The festival names its rounds like a night at the cinema. Because every round costs the same, <b>the date is not a price</b>: use the time you have.

  1. 16 Oct 2026

    Front Row

    The next round on the calendar. $15, or $10 with FilmFreeway Gold.

  2. 12 Nov and 11 Dec 2026

    The Booth and Reel Change

    Two more rounds before the new year.

  3. 21 Jan to 18 Mar 2027

    Late Show, Closing Reel, House Lights

    Rounds on 21 January, 19 February and 18 March.

  4. 16 Apr 2027

    Last Frame

    The final round of the season.

  5. 4 and 16 May 2027

    Notification, then screening

    Selected films are told on 4 May and screened on 16 May.

What Best Prompt rewards

The one yardstick the festival states.

PROMPT publishes no grid for its categories. It does define its grand prize: can a creator produce a complete, compelling short film from a single prompt? Three qualities are named.

  • Storytelling precision

    Every shot does a job. Write a story that a model could follow in a paragraph, with no scene that exists only because it looks good.

  • Conceptual clarity

    An idea you can say in one sentence, and a film that proves it. The festival's own phrase for the prize is a new form of authorship, so show authorship in the idea.

  • Mastery of AI tools through minimal human intervention

    The benchmark is a finished short generated from one prompt, or as close as possible. Count your interventions: every re-roll, every fix, every manual edit takes you further from it.

These three qualities define Best Prompt only. The other categories publish no criteria, so read the category text on the day you enter.

The awards

Fifteen awards. Six worth planning for.

Besides Best Prompt, the festival lists 14 categories: Short Film, Director, Storytelling, Cinematography, Editing, Sound Design, Animation, Experimental, Music Video, Visual Innovation, Hybrid Film, Character Creation, Worldbuilding and Audience Choice. Six, with the angle we would take.

  • 01

    Best Prompt, the grand prize

    A complete short film from a single prompt, or as near as you can get. The festival calls it a new form of authorship.

    This is the one award where a long pipeline works against you. Write the prompt like a one-paragraph screenplay, and test it scene by scene until one generation holds several shots, which Seedance 2.5 can do.

  • 02

    Best AI Storytelling

    Screenplay, structure and narrative voice.

    The 2026 winner was By Means Unknown, by Luc Leclerc. A category made for a written-first workflow: screenplay, then storyboard, then footage.

  • 03

    Best AI Worldbuilding

    Films defined by the world they construct.

    Set three rules for your world and show each once. Return to one location in new light: it proves the world is a place, not a set of images.

  • 04

    Best AI Character Creation

    Synthetic actors and performance-driven work.

    Give your character one repeated gesture and one silhouette. A face that never changes is the proof. A mask or a helmet makes that easier, and posture carries the feeling.

  • 05

    Best AI Sound Design

    Audio, music and sonic atmosphere.

    Design the silence first, then the sound that breaks it. Sound is half the picture for a jury that watches in a small room.

  • 06

    Best Hybrid Film

    AI mixed with live action and traditional craft.

    Anchor the film in one real element: your own voice, a location you filmed, a hand-drawn layer. Say which parts are generated in your description.

The 2026 edition

What six winners show.

The first edition screened on 26 July 2026 at Black Box. The site lists six award winners and four official selections. The winners: By Means Unknown (Best AI Storytelling), FIRESTRIKE (Best AI Music Video), LUNO & LUNA: Save The Earth (Best AI Short Film), The One Who Went Forth To Learn Fear (Best AI Visual Innovation), FANGS - The Veggie Vamp (Best AI Animation) and Otsukare Gasa (Best AI Experimental Film).

  1. 01

    Best Prompt is not among the listed winners. The site names winners in six categories, and the grand prize is not one of them. Treat it as a different contest from the other 14 categories.

  2. 02

    Winners came from five countries: Canada (twice), Indonesia, Germany, the United Kingdom and France. Subtitles and universal stories matter.

  3. 03

    Structured categories won. Animation and music video both placed a winner, and both give a film a built-in shape to follow.

  4. 04

    One filmmaker, two selections. Rajiv Mittal had The Algorithm vs the Semicolon and Atishay in the official selection. The festival will program more than one film from you.

  5. 05

    Selection alone gets you on screen. Selected filmmakers receive an official screening, official selection laurels and access to the live event, as the four selected films did.

Characters and a world

Lost Garden: two knights, six shots.

From Lost Garden, episode 2, an animated series by the 熙熙 team made with Seedance: two faceless knights share a cavern of house-sized mushrooms, and the feeling comes from posture alone. A scene for the Character Creation and Worldbuilding categories. Start with the screenplay page, then see every shot as a board frame and as a final image.

Logline. A newborn knight whose inner light is leaking away crosses a world that has stopped hoping, to find the one blacksmith who can seal his armor.

Screenplay · episode 2 · page 1

INT. UNDERGROUND CAVERN - LOWER PATH - CONTINUOUS

Blue mushrooms the size of houses. LANTERN, a small knight with a lantern for a helm, walks alone.

He presses a hand firmly against his chest. Sparks of light slip through the gaps between his fingers, flickering in the dim air.

SERRURE

Hold on. You're losing something.

Serrure lifts the edge of the cloak carefully. A gash in the armor is revealed. Blue light leaks out from the wound like drifting smoke.

SERRURE

That's your energy. What keeps you standing.

He grips Lantern's shoulder tightly. Two knights stand alone among the crystals, isolated in the stillness.

SERRURE

A suit that leaks goes out. Eventually.

Under the giant mushrooms, the road climbs into the dark.

SERRURE

So. We follow the road.

Serrure points the way. Lantern follows.

CUT TO:

  1. A small knight with a lantern helm stands by a giant glowing blue mushroom in a crystal cavern
    Storyboard frame of the same wide shot, in grey
    01

    Wide · the world

    Wide shot, Lantern alone by a giant glowing blue mushroom, crystal cavern, roots, drifting spores, cold blue light

  2. Close-up of an armored chest under a cream cloak, a gloved hand, a spark of light
    Storyboard frame of the chest close-up, in grey
    02

    Close-up · the chest

    Close-up on Lantern's chest, his gloved hand pressed to the cloak, a spark of light escaping between the fingers

  3. A torn gash in an armor plate leaking bright blue light, a finger pointing at it
    Storyboard frame of the wound insert, in grey
    03

    Insert · the wound

    Extreme close-up, Serrure's finger near a torn gash in the back plate, blue light leaking out like luminous smoke

  4. Two armored knights side by side, one with a hand on the other's shoulder, in a crystal cavern
    Storyboard frame of the two-shot, in grey
    04

    Two-shot · the bond

    Medium two-shot among crystals and roots, Serrure's hand on Lantern's shoulder, faceless armors, emotion through posture only

  5. Two small knights walk beneath two giant glowing blue mushrooms
    Storyboard frame of the wide shot, in grey
    05

    Wide · the scale

    Wide low angle, the two knights tiny beneath two giant glowing mushrooms, blue crystals in the foreground, mist

  6. Seen from behind, a tall dark knight points ahead while the small lantern knight looks on
    Storyboard frame of the over-the-shoulder shot, in grey
    06

    Over the shoulder · the road

    Over-the-shoulder from behind, Serrure points ahead into the cavern, Lantern beside him, roots framing the path

At 21 minutes, Lost Garden, episode 2 is an animated series made with Seedance by the 熙熙 team, and episode 1 reached the finals at the AI London Festival. PROMPT sets no length we could read, so a short cut of one scene like this would suit it. The player begins in the cave.

The script

A 4 minute film you could describe in one prompt.

PROMPT prints no length limit, so four minutes is our size for a story that holds from a single description. That is about four screenplay pages, and as few shots as you can afford.

  1. 0:00 to 0:30

    The premise

    One character, one place, one question, said in the first image.

  2. 0:30 to 1:35

    The rule

    What the world allows and forbids, shown through the character's first attempt.

  3. 1:35 to 3:05

    The reversal

    The rule turns against the character, or opens a door nobody expected.

  4. 3:05 to 4:00

    The image

    A closing frame that answers the premise without a line of explanation.

For Best Prompt, write the whole film as one paragraph a stranger could understand. If it needs two, you have two ideas.

Month by month

From October to the last frame.

Six and a half months remain before the last round begins. A flat fee means there is no discount for rushing the work. Spend the time carefully on refining the idea and conducting the test screening.
  1. 01

    October

    Choose the award

    Decide whether you are making for Best Prompt or for a craft category. They need different films, so choose before you write.

  2. 02

    November

    Write four pages

    Write four pages in 熙熙, free of charge. For Best Prompt, add the one-paragraph version.

  3. 03

    December

    Storyboard and references

    Generate the shot breakdown and the storyboard. Lock a single reference for each character and each set.

  4. 04

    January

    Generate the footage

    Generate scene by scene, following the storyboard. Log every prompt, and note how many interventions each shot needed.

  5. 05

    February

    Edit and sound

    Cut, mix and design the silence. Export a clean master with English subtitles if needed.

  6. 06

    March

    Test screening

    Show the film to five strangers, in a dark room if you can. Fix what they stumble on.

  7. 07

    By 16 April

    Submit to Last Frame

    Enter before the final round. You can also enter earlier: the fee does not change, and notification comes on 4 May.

Traps

Seven ways to waste an entry.

The rules are short in length, so the traps are about reading them correctly and understanding the nuances. Read the page thoroughly during the week you enter.

  • Reading Best Prompt as an ordinary award

    It rewards a finished film from one prompt, with minimal intervention. A film assembled from hundreds of manual fixes is the wrong entry for it. Enter a craft category instead.

  • No English subtitles

    Non-English entries must include English subtitles.

  • Paying before you are ready

    A fee, once paid, is not returned. Pick the right round and the right category before you pay.

  • Assuming the 2027 venue

    The screening date is 16 May 2027, but the site shows the 2026 venue only. Do not book travel until the venue is confirmed.

  • No AI in the pipeline

    A project qualifies if AI was used anywhere in the creative pipeline. A film with no AI at all does not.

  • Counting on a prize

    Winners receive laurels, a place in the winners programme, recognition, promotion and priority for future showcases. No cash prize is listed.

  • Assuming selection is automatic

    Final programming decisions remain at the festival's discretion. A paid entry is not a guaranteed screening.

Why 熙熙

Best Prompt is about precision. That starts on the page.

熙熙 is the production pipeline for AI films and series, not a one-click generator. For this festival, the central question is precisely where and how it helps creators through the filmmaking process.

  • An honest line on Best Prompt

    That award values minimal intervention, and a multi-step project is the opposite of a single prompt. 熙熙 helps you write and test the prompt precisely. Its strength is the other 14 categories.

  • Storytelling, character and worldbuilding

    The screenplay, the storyboard and the references are the work of three categories. Characters, locations and references carry from shot to shot, which is the proof a Character Creation jury looks for.

  • Seedance, one scene at a time

    The footage side of 熙熙 runs on Seedance 2.0 and 2.5. Seedance 2.5 can render several shots of one scene in a single generation, so light and faces match across them. No tool is imposed here.

  • Free to start

    The screenplay stage is free and has no time limit. The storyboard step and video generation are both in the 年度会员, at ¥168 一年.

Real productions

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

熙熙 is already being used as a creative workspace for real AI film productions in active development, spanning cinematic shorts to animated series pilots that have been selected, nominated, and awarded recognition by international festivals around the world.

  • 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.

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FAQ

PROMPT Festival Toronto, your questions

How do you win PROMPT Festival Toronto?
Pick one of 15 awards. Best Prompt rewards storytelling precision, conceptual clarity and mastery of AI tools through minimal human intervention. The other categories reward craft, from storytelling to sound design. The festival publishes no scoring grid and no jury.
What is the deadline?
There are ten rounds. The next is Front Row on 16 October 2026 and the last is Last Frame on 16 April 2027. Notification is on 4 May 2027 and the screening on 16 May 2027.
What is the Best Prompt award?
The festival's grand prize. It asks whether a creator can produce a complete, compelling short film from a single prompt. The ideal benchmark is a finished short generated from one prompt, or as close as possible.
How much does it cost?
$15 at every deadline, or $10 with FilmFreeway Gold. Fees are not refunded.
How long can the film be?
The site prints no length limit. Short films, experimental works, music videos, hybrid projects and AI-native works are all welcome, so read the FilmFreeway page for any limit.
What do winners receive?
Winner laurels, a place in the winners programme, category recognition, featured placement in festival communications and priority for future curated showcases. No cash prize is listed.
Where is the screening?
The first edition screened at Black Box in Scarborough, Toronto, on 26 July 2026. The site gives a 2027 screening date but does not name the 2027 venue.
Does 熙熙 fit this festival?
Yes. No AI tool is imposed, and any use of AI in the pipeline qualifies. 熙熙's footage is made with Seedance 2.0 and 2.5.

Six months. Start with one paragraph.

A first page costs nothing at all. Write it today at your own pace, then storyboard and film it when you are ready to move forward.
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