Opening Signal
A live welcome from the city, the edition manifesto and a first look at the films defining its creative signal.
INAUGURAL EDITION
CIRCUIT 43 / 52 · AUS · 2026
CIRCUIT 43 / 52 · AUS · 2026
● North America · INAUGURAL EDITION · ONE DAY ONLINE
AUSTIN
AI CINEMA
FESTIVAL
Independent Experiment / Borderless Genres. One global screen for cinema with authorship, craft and emotional force.
01 / THE CITY SIGNAL
A CREATIVE TERRITORY, NOT A TOURIST POSTCARD
INDEPENDENT EXPERIMENT
BORDERLESS GENRES
Austin welcomes the productive collision: independent experiment, genre remix and creators prepared to break the pipeline to protect the idea.
- Format
- One day, online worldwide
- Edition
- INAUGURAL EDITION
- Date
- Sunday, Oct 25, 2026
- Submission deadline
- Sunday, Oct 11, 2026
- Time zone
- America/Chicago
- Creative signal
- Independent Experiment / Borderless Genres
AUS / 2026.10.25ONE DAY / ONE CITY SIGNAL / ONE GLOBAL SCREEN
THE
PROGRAMME
+
Competition Screens
Curated online programmes across narrative, animation, documentary, experimental work and future formats.
The Directors’ Room
Selected filmmakers discuss authorship, process, rights, responsible practice and the new language of cinema.
Award Gala — Live Online
The global audience reconnects for jury awards, the audience prize and the World Championship qualifier.
02 / CITY DESK
LOCAL EDITION / GLOBAL ONLINE DELIVERY
LOCAL
PRESENCE.
GLOBAL REACH.
AUS
Austin Broadcast Desk
The city desk coordinates filmmaker access, programme communications, live-gala production and local partnerships. Audience screenings and the Award Gala are delivered online worldwide; registered guests receive access instructions directly.
Contact the Austin desk ↗03 / THE AWARDS
CINEMA, JUDGED AS CINEMA
AUSTIN
AWARDS
More ways to recognise the whole film: story, direction, performance, image, sound, innovation and transparent human authorship.
CITY SIGNATURE AWARDAustin Creative Signal — Independent Experiment / Borderless Genres
01Grand Prizes
City Grand PrixBest AI FilmJury PrizeAudience AwardGlobal Championship Qualifier
02Formats
Narrative FeatureNarrative ShortAnimationDocumentaryExperimental FilmMusic VideoFashion FilmCommercial StorytellingSeries PilotMicro ShortVertical CinemaImmersive / XRInteractive FilmStudent FilmYouth Film
03Cinematic Craft
DirectionScreenplayCinematographyEditingProduction DesignVisual EffectsCharacter DesignAnimation CraftPerformanceVoice PerformanceSound DesignOriginal ScoreOriginal SongColourTitle SequenceWorld-BuildingCreature DesignAction Choreography
04Genre, Impact + Innovation
Science FictionFantasyHorrorComedyClimate StorytellingSocial ImpactHuman–AI CollaborationResponsible AI PracticeTechnical InnovationBreakthrough Filmmaker
AUSTIN / SUNDAY
OCT 25, 2026 / ONLINE WORLDWIDE
SUBMISSIONS CLOSE OCT 11, 2026
NO VIDEO UPLOAD · YOUTUBE OR GOOGLE DRIVE LINK