Bucharest AI Film Festival · Guide

How to win the Bucharest AI Film Festival.Five euros to enter. AI as the core, not a filter.

BAIFF is Romania's first AI film festival. It wants generative AI as a primary creative tool, a 200 word summary of your pipeline and a film of at least 2 minutes. The first edition ran on 29 and 30 May 2026 and its call is closed. Here are the rules, the five criteria and a plan for the next call, starting with the screenplay in ScreenWeaver.
Start writing for freeSee the scene
  • Entry fee €5
  • Films of 2 minutes or more
  • First call closed 15 May 2026
Voidborn · Episode 0

Independent guide. ScreenWeaver does not organise the Bucharest AI Film Festival and is not affiliated with STESA, its organiser. Rules read on 1 October 2026. Official site

Available today in ScreenWeaver: free screenwriting, and a storyboard generated from your screenplay with Storyboard Beta, $9.99 a month.

Rolling out: video generation of each shot, powered by Seedance, with the Filmmaker plan.

The rules on one card

What the first call asked of a film.

STESA, a Romanian NGO, runs BAIFF with a clear position: AI must be the foundation of the vision, image and sound, not an enhancement. It takes any genre, and any film of two minutes or more.
Edition
First edition, 29 and 30 May 2026, Bucharest
First call
6 March to 15 May 2026, notification 22 May
Entry fee
€5 per film, non-refundable
Length
2 minutes minimum, no maximum stated
Format
1080p minimum, any aspect ratio
AI requirement
Generative AI as a primary creative tool
Disclosure
A summary of tools and workflow, 200 words maximum
Prizes
€2,500 in cash, plus honorary spotlights

Source: the festival site baiff.ro and the festival's rules and awards as published on Festhome, read on 1 October 2026. Films must be completed on or after 1 March 2024. The 2027 edition is not announced, and the split of the cash prize is not stated on the pages we read.

Key dates

Ten weeks from call to deadline.

The first edition's calendar was short and cheap. It is closed, and it is our best guide to the next one.

  1. 6 Mar 2026

    Call opens

    Submissions through Festhome and other platforms, at €5 a film.

  2. 15 May 2026

    Deadline

    Entries received after the deadline were not considered.

  3. 22 May 2026

    Notification

    Selected filmmakers were told by email, then sent their screening file by download link.

  4. 29 and 30 May 2026

    The festival

    Three screening blocks, six panels and an awards gala on the evening of 30 May.

  5. Spring 2027, expected

    Next call

    Not announced. The first call opened in early March and closed in mid-May, so expect a similar window.

How films are judged

Five criteria, no published weights.

The rules list the main evaluation criteria and give no weights. Innovation in the use of AI comes first on the list. They add that image quality may count, while accepting the limits of generative video today.

  • Innovative use of AI in the creative process

    Not how much AI, but how inventively: a method the jury has not seen. Describe it in the 200 word summary. The jury reads your pipeline as well as your film.

  • Artistic merit and originality

    A voice of your own. Generative tools offer the average of everything, so what sets your film apart is a choice only you would make.

  • Technical execution

    Faces that hold, action you can read, clean sound, a 1080p master. The rules allow for the limits of generative video, so do not hide a limit, design around it.

  • Narrative and conceptual strength

    An idea and a story, not a montage. In two to five minutes, one question and one answer is enough.

  • Contribution to the dialogue between AI and traditional filmmaking

    The festival's panels cover cinema, journalism, advertising, education and ethics. A film that raises a question in that conversation, about authorship, truth or memory, speaks its language.

World premieres may be preferred. The rules say preference may be given to them, and that the jury's decisions are final.

Who decides

A committee, then seven jurors.

BAIFF publishes both. The jury is mixed on purpose: directors, a producer, a critic and a media theorist.

  • A committee before the jury

    Appointed by BAIFF from AI art specialists, filmmakers and industry professionals. It evaluates every submission and decides which films reach the screen.

  • Seven jurors

    Alexandru Berceanu, Andrei Gheorghe, Bogdan Moldoveanu, Dragos Vilcu, Horea Avram, Ioana Mischie and Mihai Mitrica. The site lists directors, an art critic and media theorist, a producer who also directs Animest, and a media company CEO.

  • An editorial hand

    Honorary recognitions are non-competitive and decided by the festival itself. They can go to any eligible submission, including films not selected for the competition.

  • The room

    The competition played to a live audience in three blocks of two and a half hours, between panels. A film built for a cinema screen and for people watching together has an advantage.

Five spotlights

No categories to pick, five signals to read.

BAIFF has no entry categories. After the first edition it named five editorial spotlights beside the podium. You cannot enter them, but they show what the festival noticed. Under each, the angle we would pick.

  • 01

    AI World Crafting

    Went to The Patchwright by Zack London of Gossip Goblin Inc. (USA).

    Worldbuilding is rewarded as a craft. Give your film one rule of its world and keep it.

  • 02

    Urgent Voices

    Went to WCNSF by Antonio Cortés (Spain).

    Urgency has a place. Make the subject specific, with a person in it, not a slogan.

  • 03

    Loudest Applause

    Went to Le Drip by Alex Naghavi and Ezra Li (USA). The name points to the room's reaction.

    Time a shot or a punchline for a screening, not for a phone.

  • 04

    Human Emotion Unlock

    Went to The Interview by Mark Wachholz (Germany).

    Feeling is a technical achievement here. One face that moves people is worth ten spectacle shots.

  • 05

    Fearless Activism

    Went to To Dust by Maria “n.evernow” Pokrovskaya and Anna Kuzminikh (Russia).

    Courage in subject gets noticed. The ethics rules still apply: no real likeness without consent.

The first edition

What the 2026 podium says.

The Golden Noise went to Miserable Breath Miserable Flesh by Stefano P. Testa (Italy), the Silver Noise to Railbound by Jonathan Perry and Alex Naghavi (USA) and the Bronze Noise to Total Pixel Space by Jacob Adler (USA). Best Romanian Film, an honorable mention, went to 1Q89 by Mihai Grecu.

  1. 01

    The field was international. The nine awards on the site went to filmmakers from Italy, the USA, Romania, Spain, Germany and Russia. A €5 entry draws a global field.

  2. 02

    Spotlights reach beyond the selection. A film that missed the competition screening can still be honoured, since honorary recognitions go to any eligible submission.

  3. 03

    One name won twice. Alex Naghavi is credited on Railbound, the Silver Noise, and on Le Drip, a spotlight. A voice that repeats across films gets noticed.

  4. 04

    World crafting has its own prize. A coherent world is treated as a skill in itself, not as a by-product of the prompts.

  5. 05

    Three blocks of 150 minutes. The competition filled about seven and a half hours over two days. Your film sits beside many others, so the opening seconds matter.

A world, in six shots

Voidborn: six shots of a world.

BAIFF gives a spotlight to world crafting, and one scene of Voidborn builds a world with few means: ruins, a blind seer, white automatons and the rule of the Rift. It comes from Voidborn, episode 0, an anime pilot by the ScreenWeaver team, shown here as a screenplay page and, for every shot, a storyboard frame and a final image.

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 runs 13 minutes, far above BAIFF's two minute floor, and a four minute cut of this sequence would fit a screening block. It earned 1st Place Silver and 2nd Place Dreamina at the Mondial Chroma Awards, and an award at the Seoul International AI Film Festival. Play it and the film starts at this sequence.

The script

Four minutes, five movements.

BAIFF's floor is 2 minutes and it states no ceiling. Four minutes is long enough for a world and short enough for a screening block: about 4 screenplay pages and 40 to 60 shots of 4 to 6 seconds.

  1. 0:00 to 0:15

    The hook

    One image the room has not seen. Screening blocks run back to back.

  2. 0:15 to 0:45

    The rule of the world

    Say the one rule that makes this place different, in a line or in an image.

  3. 0:45 to 2:15

    The journey

    A character crosses the world and meets its cost. Each shot shows a new corner of it.

  4. 2:15 to 3:15

    The break

    The rule bends or fails. This is the turn the jury remembers.

  5. 3:15 to 4:00

    The echo

    Return to the opening image, changed.

Dialogue or narration in any language other than English needs English subtitles. If you are selected, the festival also asks for an .SRT file.

Month by month

The months before the next BAIFF call.

No 2027 call is announced. The first call opened in early March and closed on 15 May, so expect a window from March to May 2027. Any film completed on or after 1 March 2024 qualifies, so what you start now is eligible.
  1. 01

    October 2026

    Choose your world

    Write one page about a world: its rule, its place, its cost. Do it free in ScreenWeaver. It is the AI World Crafting test, and it makes every later shot easier.

  2. 02

    November 2026

    The screenplay

    Four pages for four minutes, built on one question. Read it aloud and cut whatever the image can say alone.

  3. 03

    December 2026 to January 2027

    Approved references and storyboard

    One approved reference per character and place. Storyboard each shot with its framing, angle and movement.

  4. 04

    February 2027

    Test the pipeline

    Generate three key shots with Seedance in ScreenWeaver, as video generation reaches your plan. Keep prompts and versions: they feed your 200 word summary.

  5. 05

    March 2027

    Generate the film

    Scene by scene, then edit and mix. The call should open this month, so you can submit as soon as it does.

  6. 06

    April to May 2027

    Summary and submission

    Write the 200 word summary: tools, versions and what each did. Add English subtitles where needed and a 1080p master. Submit before mid-May.

Ways to be disqualified

Eight reasons a film is out before the jury sees it.

The rules are short and blunt. Misrepresenting your AI process can disqualify a film at any stage, even after selection.

  • AI used only in post-production

    Films that use AI only for upscaling, relighting, colour grading, editing or music generation are not eligible. Generative AI must be a primary creative tool for visuals or narrative.

  • A vague tools summary

    The 200 word summary names the specific tools, such as Sora, Runway, Kling or Midjourney, and the role of each. BAIFF may ask for more documentation on your pipeline.

  • A film made before March 2024

    Only films completed on or after 1 March 2024 qualify. Older work is out, however good.

  • Under two minutes or under 1080p

    The floor is 2 minutes and 1920 by 1080 pixels. Any aspect ratio is accepted.

  • Real people

    No unauthorised likeness of a living or dead person, no deepfake and no non-consensual likeness. BAIFF may disqualify a film that seems to break these ethics.

  • Prohibited content

    No AI-generated sexually explicit content and no hate speech, whatever the artistic intent. Violence and other mature themes are allowed, and the festival may attach a content advisory.

  • Unlicensed music or protected IP

    You warrant all rights for picture and sound and that nothing infringes a third party. You indemnify the festival if a claim arises, so know the terms of every tool and track.

  • Pulling a selected film

    A selected film cannot be withdrawn. The festival may screen it up to five more times within a year and use excerpts of up to 20% of its length and 40 seconds.

Why ScreenWeaver

BAIFF wants AI at the core. Show your method.

BAIFF imposes no tool, so any generative pipeline can qualify. What it asks in return is a method you can describe. ScreenWeaver keeps screenplay, storyboard and footage in one connected project, and that is your summary half written.

  • The summary almost writes itself

    Each shot is tied to its scene, its storyboard frame and its prompt. At submission, the list of tools and what each did lives in the project, not in your memory.

  • AI as the core, not a finish

    BAIFF excludes post-production-only use. Footage generated from your storyboard with Seedance 2.0 and 2.5 puts AI at the centre of the picture. The festival decides what complies.

  • A world that holds

    Characters, locations and references carry from shot to shot, so the world you craft is still the same world in shot forty.

  • Five euros, and a free start

    Entry costs €5. The Screenwriter plan is $0 with no end date, Storyboard Beta is $9.99 a month and Seedance video generation arrives with the Filmmaker plan.

Real productions

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

ScreenWeaver is already being used as a creative workspace for real AI film productions, from cinematic shorts to animated series pilots selected, nominated, and awarded by international festivals.

  • Video thumbnail for VOIDBORN

    VOIDBORN

    AI animated / cinematic short

    Festival recognition

    • 1st Place Silver

      Mondial Chroma Awards

    • 2nd Place Dreamina

      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. ScreenWeaver 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. ScreenWeaver 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. ScreenWeaver 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 Bucharest AI Film Festival, your questions

How do you win the Bucharest AI Film Festival?
Five criteria guide the jury: innovative use of AI, artistic merit and originality, technical execution, narrative and conceptual strength, and contribution to the dialogue between AI and traditional filmmaking. The rules give no weights. Make AI the core of the film, describe your pipeline honestly and tell one clear story.
Is there a 2027 edition?
Not announced. The first edition took place on 29 and 30 May 2026, with a call from 6 March to 15 May. The festival site shows the 2026 winners and no new call.
What counts as AI in the rules?
Generative AI must be a primary creative tool for visuals or narrative. Films that use AI only for post-production tasks (upscaling, relighting, grading, editing, music generation) are not eligible.
What does a BAIFF entry cost?
€5 per film, non-refundable, with a reduced price for Festhome members. Several films from one applicant are allowed, each with its own submission.
Is there a maximum length?
At least 2 minutes. The rules we read state no maximum. Any aspect ratio is accepted, at 1080p or higher.
Does BAIFF accept films made with ScreenWeaver?
BAIFF imposes no tool. ScreenWeaver's footage pipelines run on Seedance 2.0 and 2.5, and video generation is rolling out on the Filmmaker plan. List the tools and what each did in your summary. The festival decides what complies.
Who is on the jury?
Seven jurors: Alexandru Berceanu, Andrei Gheorghe, Bogdan Moldoveanu, Dragos Vilcu, Horea Avram, Ioana Mischie and Mihai Mitrica. A selection committee of AI art specialists, filmmakers and industry professionals picks the films first.
What are the prizes?
€2,500 in cash prizes in total, according to Festhome. The jury decides competition awards and the festival decides the honorary spotlights. BAIFF may add, change or withhold prizes, and the split is not stated.

A world in four minutes. Start with a page.

Draft the screenplay free today. Then storyboard it and let Seedance generate the shots.
Start writing for freeBack to the demo