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HKAIIFF-FEST-2027-001 · v1.4 · en
Download English PDFEntry information
The Hong Kong AI International Film Festival welcomes AI-native films from around the globe, as well as interactive or generative works with clear cinematic expression. Individuals, teams, studios, educational institutions, and organisations authorised by rights holders may apply.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Submission Period | From 1 October 2026 to 1 March 2027, with a deadline of 23:59 Hong Kong time (UTC+8). |
| Completion Date of the Work | Completed on or after 1 August 2026. For works in continuous development, the completion date of the current full submission version applies, and disclosure of prior versions and substantive changes is required. |
| Entry fee | US$99 per work. There is no additional award entry fee for entering the same work for applicable Innovation Awards or submitting associated achievements for the three Silver Awards. |
| Premiere Requirement | No premiere requirement. Works that have been publicly screened, distributed, or participated in other film festivals may still apply. |
| Official entry platform | hkaiiff.io. Use the link published on hkaiiff.org to access the Festival entry process. |
| Language | Works in all languages are accepted. Materials for judging must include English subtitles, a transcript or equivalent language support sufficient to understand the complete work. |
The Festival will announce screening dates, venues and notification arrangements separately. Any changes to entry information will be published on the official website and notified to affected applicants. Substantive rights relating to entries already submitted are governed by the Entry Terms and Personal Information Collection Statement.
Eligibility and AI-Native Creation
Substantive Creative Role
AI-native creation refers to artificial intelligence having a substantive creative role in the primary audiovisual materials, performances, narrative organisation, generation rules, or audience experience of the work, and the applicant being able to explain this role using the work and process materials. Qualification as AI-native cannot be established solely through automatic subtitles, noise reduction, upscaling, general administrative assistance, or similar post-production functions.
Qualification for the 2027 edition is determined by AI's substantive creative role and verifiable materials, not by a fixed usage percentage. The number of models used, their brands, costs, or degree of automation do not directly determine the artistic evaluation of the work.
Complete Works and Creative Responsibility
Works must possess a complete, reviewable presentation. Fixed films must be submitted in full; interactive or continuously generated works must be submitted as runnable versions, along with a clearly defined experience scope, suggested duration, and termination or stop conditions. Trailers, concept proposals, pure tool demonstrations, or raw material collections that have not formed a work cannot substitute for a complete work.
Applicants must designate a contact authorised to represent the work and identify the people responsible for its creative direction and their principal contributions. Applicants below the legal age of majority where they live must obtain joint confirmation from a guardian or institutional representative legally authorised to give consent.
Form and Accessibility
There is no fixed minimum running time. Priority is not granted based on running time, budget, linear, or interactive form. Fixed imagery, interactive narrative, continuous generation, and digital characters may serve as curation tags; these tags do not constitute separate awards. Special equipment, sensory stimulation, or accessibility requirements must be explained during registration.
Seven Unicorn Awards
| Awards | Subject of assessment | Core Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Golden Unicorn Grand Prix | A complete AI-native film | Overall expression, emotional and intellectual power, and unity of form and content. |
| Silver Unicorn · Creative Method | A creative method demonstrated in a work | Realisation of intent, selection and control, verifiability, and capacity for continued use. |
| Silver Unicorn · Digital Character | A digital character demonstrated in a work | Distinct identity, behavioural and emotional expression, and continuity across contexts. |
| Silver Unicorn · Worldbuilding | A world demonstrated in a work | Self-consistent rules, relationships and causality, as well as the capacity to carry new stories. |
| Unicorn · Narrative Innovation | The work's narrative achievement | Organisation of time, information, perspective, and meaning. |
| Unicorn · Audiovisual Innovation | The work's comprehensive audiovisual achievement | Expression formed by imagery, sound, motion, and rhythm. |
| Unicorn · Experiential Innovation | The work's participation and response mechanisms | The experience formed by the audience's actions, viewing paths, and the work's responses. |
The Golden Unicorn Grand Prix is the festival's sole highest comprehensive honour, selected from all shortlisted works in the main competition. The three Silver Awards respectively evaluate Creative Method, Digital Character, and Worldbuilding, and are not second, third, or fourth place films. The three Innovation Awards recognise clearly identifiable expressive achievements demonstrated in the submitted work.
Achievements entered for the three Silver Awards must be demonstrated in eligible works submitted for the current edition; the associated film need not already be shortlisted. An achievement may predate this edition, but the version entered, new contributions and relationship to the submitted work must be identified.
Application Materials
A complete entry must include the materials needed to identify the work, check eligibility and conduct a full assessment. Conditional requirements are not all optional: materials relevant to the submitted work or award entered must be complete before the relevant assessment begins. Information already supplied may be referenced and checked without rewriting it in forms, attachments or INDEX records.
| Data Group | Required Content |
|---|---|
| Work Identification | Original title, title language, synopsis, completion date, and submission version. The English title may be added prior to shortlist confirmation; it must not replace the original title. |
| Format and Language | Fixed film or other work format; running time or experience scope, work language, and subtitles or equivalent language support. Production region may be added separately. |
| The complete work | After payment is confirmed, upload a poster, trailer and complete film. Interactive or continuously generated works also require a runnable version and access instructions; use the complete-film field for a full experience recording, not a trailer. Providing materials does not grant public screening or publicity rights. |
| Contributors and representation | Public credits, principal contributions, people responsible for creative direction, the submission representative and a contact email address. One person may hold multiple roles, and several people may share a role. |
| AI and Provenance | Stages involving AI, principal tools and a concise account of human decisions and AI's role; identify relevant sources, the basis for their use, restrictions and known disputes. |
| Declaration and Consent | Indicate entry of the complete work and any associated achievements; provide the necessary permission for judging, acceptance of the entry terms and acknowledgement of the personal information notice. |
There is no minimum word count for the explanation of AI use. Initially, applicants may cite one process record that best supports a key claim. If the finished work and explanation provide sufficient evidence, further material may be supplied when a specific question is raised. For the three Silver Awards, provide evidence relevant to the achievements entered.
When applying for a Silver Award, you must provide the achievement name, the corresponding work and version, the scope of contribution, and at least one representative piece of evidence capable of verifying the key claim. For interactive or continuously generated works, you must provide a runnable version, instructions for operation and access, the scope of experience, and stopping conditions; submitting only a trailer is not permitted. Supplementary evidence submitted later will only address specific verification issues and will not be used to replace a complete application with indefinitely delayed materials.
Collaborative creation and reuse of information
Attribution and Responsibilities
Record names, pseudonyms, team or organisation names and roles according to actual contributions. A full traditional production-crew structure is not required. Each contributor need be listed only once, with multiple roles where applicable; several people may share credit for the same role. Crediting an organisation does not replace identification of the principal human contributions that require confirmation.
Submission Representative and Rights Holder
Attribution, submission representation, holding rights, and authorising others to use are distinct relationships. The submission representative may be the creator, producer, organisation, or an authorised agent; the basis for representation must be explained, and permission must be granted to submit the work and necessary materials. The representative status does not automatically confer all rights to the work.
Existing Data and INDEX
Applicants may reference existing work information or INDEX records they are authorised to provide, confirming the information, version, credits and permitted use. Eligibility does not depend on the record being public, commercial licensing being offered, or an INDEX record existing. If the platform has no direct record-reuse function, include the record's link in the submission materials.
The Film Festival will use the data at the time of submission confirmation and the entry version as the basis for adjudication. Subsequent updates to existing records will not automatically replace the entry version. Where corrections or version changes are involved, they must be submitted according to the Film Festival procedures.
Add only achievement-specific information
For Silver Award entries, reuse the associated work's team, tool and source information, adding the achievement's name, scope, version, specific contributions and supporting evidence. There is no requirement to purchase or complete a separate INDEX registration for each method, character or world.
Submission and judging procedures
| Procedures | Applicant Actions | Festival action |
|---|---|---|
| Formal Submission | Complete registration fields, materials, declarations, and applicable payments. | Provide receipt confirmation and an identifiable application record. |
| Eligibility Verification | Correct missing items as notified, ensuring links and versions remain accessible. | Check completion date, AI's role, completeness, rights and suitability for assessment. |
| Professional Review | Assist with narrowly scoped requests for additional evidence or technical demonstrations where needed. | Evaluate works and corresponding outcomes according to the public review methodology. |
| Shortlist Confirmation | Verify credits, work versions, subtitles, and screening arrangements. | Issue written notice, confirming separately the screening and publicity authorisations. |
| Final Selection | Confirm facts, contributions, and rights status as required. | Complete independent deliberation, voting, and result verification. |
| Results Announcement | Use official titles and insignia that correspond to the actual honour. | Announce award results and publicly available review rationale. |
Entry proceeds in four steps: (1) provide work, contributor, creation, award and declaration information; (2) check the information and pay the entry fee for this work; (3) after payment is confirmed, upload the poster, trailer and complete film; (4) check the materials and confirm final submission. File uploads are unavailable before payment is confirmed. An entry number or payment receipt does not establish final submission, eligibility, selection or an award.
Creating a platform account, completing an INDEX record, attending training or using other services does not complete a Festival entry. Retain the entry confirmation and payment receipt. Contact the official contact point if confirmation is not received.
If a work version needs replacement after submission, the reason and changes must be explained. Correcting damaged files, subtitles, or playback issues must not be used to add new content that affects evaluation without prior declaration. Whether significant changes are included in the review shall be handled according to the regulations and procedures applied consistently to all applicants.
Authorisation and Frequently Asked Questions
Permission for judging and public use
The limited permission required for entry covers only eligibility checks, judging, technical testing and administration of the entry. Public screenings, promotional use of excerpts and images, public INDEX records and market introductions require separate confirmation of their stated purposes and scope. Entry does not transfer existing rights in the work or submitted materials.
| Question | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Must it be open source? | No. Closed-source methods may be eligible for consideration, provided their core claims can be verified under reasonable confidentiality conditions. |
| Can a fixed film win the top award? | Yes. Interactive or real-time generation is not a higher tier; the Golden Unicorn Grand Prix is awarded based on the overall achievement of the work. |
| Must a digital character be able to converse? | No. Continuity of the character may be demonstrated using performances from different contexts within the same work. |
| Must the world be runnable in real time? | No. Rules, relationships, and causality that hold stably within the complete film may also serve as evidence. |
| Will declining permission for publicity affect the assessment? | No. Optional permissions that are not needed for judging do not affect the professional assessment. |
| Does an award guarantee distribution or a transaction? | No. Resource support and subsequent cooperation are subject to separate announcements or written confirmation. |
Before submitting, read the Awards and Jury Regulations, Jury Handbook, Submission and Technical Specifications, Entry Declarations and Permissions, and Entry Terms and Personal Information Collection Statement together. The Regulations govern awards and procedures; the Handbook sets out the assessment criteria; the Entry Terms govern rights, obligations and information processing.
If reasonable assistance is needed regarding language, accessibility, or technical matters, please contact info@hkaiiff.org before submission, explaining the work's actual needs.