Indywood International AI Cinefest 2027 · Guide

How to win Indywood International AI Cinefest.25 awards, a Kerala screen and a 1 February deadline.

The second season of the Indian festival run by Indywood: the dates, the fees, the seven jurors named on its page and a plan to the 1 February 2027 deadline. Then build the film in ScreenWeaver, from page one to the Seedance shots.
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  • Deadline 1 February 2027
  • 25 award categories
  • Final screening 22 April 2027
Lost Garden · Episode 1

Independent guide. ScreenWeaver does not organise Indywood International AI Cinefest and is not affiliated with Indywood. Rules read on 1 October 2026. Official page

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 festival page says.

The Indywood International AI Cinefest, or IIAC, is run by Indywood, a company with its office in Kochi. The first season ended on 25 March 2026. Season two opened on 1 July 2026, and its page is short: dates, fees, awards and a jury, but no full rulebook.
Season
Second season, final event on 22 April 2027
Submissions open
1 July 2026
Final deadline
1 February 2027
Final screening
Aries Plex SL Cinemas, Trivandrum, Kerala
Entry fee
Early bird $12, regular $15; students $10 and $12
Prizes
Cash for the best 2 entries, certificates for all winners
Awards
25 categories, from Best AI-Generated Short Film to AI Critic Special Award
AI share
At least 70% AI, according to the FilmFreeway listing

Source: the festival page at indywood.co.in (dates, fees, awards, venue, jury), read on 1 October 2026. The FilmFreeway listing holds the rules and blocks automated readers: the 70% rule and the other FilmFreeway details on this page come from its text as shown by a search engine on 1 October 2026, and may describe the first season. Read the listing before you pay.

Key dates

Four months, four checkpoints.

The festival page gives three dates. The fee tiers come from FilmFreeway. The call is long, so <b>the cheap early bird is the first real deadline</b>.

  1. 1 Jul 2026

    Submissions open

    The call for season two is live, open to filmmakers, AI artists and production houses worldwide.

  2. 30 Nov 2026

    Early bird ends

    According to the FilmFreeway listing, the early bird closes here. It saves $3 on a standard entry and $2 on a student entry.

  3. 20 Dec to 10 Jan

    Regular, then late

    FilmFreeway lists a regular deadline on 20 December 2026 and a late one on 10 January 2027. The festival page shows no late fee, so ask Indywood what it costs.

  4. 1 Feb 2027

    Final deadline

    The last day on the festival page, and the extended deadline on FilmFreeway. Aim to be done a month before it.

  5. 22 Mar and 22 Apr

    Results, then the screening

    FilmFreeway gives 22 March for notification. The final screening and awards ceremony is on 22 April 2027 in Trivandrum.

Who decides

Seven jurors from AI studios, scripts and film schools.

The festival page lists seven people under the heading “Indywood International AI Cinefest 2026 - Jury”. It does not say yet who judges season two, so read this as the kind of eye your film will meet.

  • Akhil Vinayak, AI advertising

    Founder of Kanavu Kadha, which the festival calls Kerala’s first AI-powered advertising agency, and a pioneer of story-driven AI advertising. He reads a clear idea told with feeling for a living, not a reel of effects.

  • Sahil Nayar, generative AI studio

    Co-founder and chief creative officer of Prismix Studios in Mumbai, with 23 years in media. A juror who knows how generative pipelines are built will spot a film that hides its seams behind fast cuts.

  • Shankar Ramakrishnan, screenwriter

    A Malayalam screenwriter known for Urumi and the director of Island Express, with more than 30 films behind him as an actor. The panel’s storyteller: give him a character and a structure, not only an image.

  • Academics and festival voices

    Dr. Shemin Balachandran Nair, a filmmaker with a PhD from the University of Central Lancashire, and Associate Professor Max Schleser of Swinburne University join AI creator Hafiz Muhammad and Aneej P Jayan, Indywood’s creative director. Craft credits such as editing and cinematography will be read closely.

The 25 awards

Choose the award you are really making a film for.

The festival names no themes. It lists 25 award categories, and they work as the brief. Below, the six groups we would plan around, and the angle we would take in each.

  • 01

    The headline film

    Best AI-Generated Short Film, Best AI Narrative Film, Best Hybrid AI Film, Festival Grand Jury Award.

    A complete short with an end beats a trailer for a feature. Close the story inside the running time. FilmFreeway lists the main AI Films category under 30 minutes.

  • 02

    Story and script

    Best Original Story or Concept, Best Screenplay, Best Cross-Cultural AI Film.

    The cheapest part of an AI film to get right. Write the screenplay first and keep its pages: a juror who reads a script sees structure before the first render.

  • 03

    Picture

    Best Cinematography, Best Animation (AI-Driven), Best Visual Effects (AI-Generated).

    Decide the lens, the light and the colour before you generate, then hold them. One look across forty shots reads as cinematography. A new style every shot reads as luck.

  • 04

    Sound and voice

    Best Sound Design / Background Score, Best AI Voice Presentation.

    Sound has its own awards, so it is its own job. Plan the score and the voices at the storyboard stage, and mix for a cinema hall, not for headphones.

  • 05

    Method and craft

    Best Use of Generative AI Tools, Best AI-Human Collaboration Project, Best AI Character or Avatar Creation, Best Experimental AI Film.

    Keep a log of which model made which shot. A film with a visible human hand and a clear method has a case for several of these awards.

  • 06

    Meaning and audience

    Best Social Impact Film, Best Awareness AI Film, Most Inspiring AI Film, Audience Choice Award, AI Visionary Award, AI Critic Special Award.

    A message needs a person. Start from one character with one problem and let the issue arrive through them. Audiences vote for a film they can retell in a sentence.

The 2026 season

What the first season shows.

The first season ended on 25 March 2026 at Aries Plex SL Cinemas in Trivandrum. Its archive page counts more than 500 submissions from over 50 countries and 25 awardees, and shows a Grand Prize Winner and a Runner Up. It gives no film titles, so there is nothing to study frame by frame.

  1. 01

    Odds of about one in twenty, or better. 25 awardees out of more than 500 films. A film that fits one category cleanly beats a film that tries to fit all of them.

  2. 02

    Cash goes to two films. The page promises cash for the best 2 entries and certificates for every winner. It does not say the Grand Prize Winner and the Runner Up are those two, so ask before you count on money.

  3. 03

    The winners are not named. The archive shows pictures without titles, so nobody outside the festival can say what the jury preferred. Your best guide is the jury list, not past films.

  4. 04

    The film is shown in a hall. A physical screening in Trivandrum puts your image and your sound on a cinema screen. Check both at full size before you submit.

From script to screen

Lost Garden: the Source Tree in six shots.

Lost Garden, episode 1 is an animated fantasy by the ScreenWeaver team, made with Seedance, and its Source Tree scene speaks to the picture awards: one palette, one giant, one tiny knight, held across six shots. Read the screenplay page first, then follow every shot from storyboard frame to final image.

Logline. A small knight wakes up in a dead world and learns he is the last guardian of a seed that could bring the garden back.

Screenplay · episode 1 · the Source Tree

INT. HEART OF THE ROOTS - NIGHT

Living roots coil around LANTERN and pin him down. A voice stops them.

THE SOURCE TREE

Stop. He is my guest.

A giant woman of roots and white lilies opens her arms over the cavern.

Her eyes open. Blue, and vast.

THE SOURCE TREE

Welcome to you, Lantern Knight.

She lifts him in her palm, like a lamp.

THE SOURCE TREE

Do not be afraid. I will not harm you.

In the dark, a seed of light opens. Inside the flower, a sleeping child.

THE SOURCE TREE

You must find yours. Protect her.

CUT TO:

  1. A small lantern-helmed knight bound by thick roots in a ruined hall
    Storyboard frame of the trap shot, in grey
    01

    Medium · the trap

    Medium shot, Lantern bound by thick living roots in a ruined hall, glowing blue mushrooms on the floor, cold light

  2. A giant woman made of roots and white lilies spreads her many arms in a dark cavern
    Storyboard frame of the wide shot, in grey
    02

    Wide · the Source Tree

    Symmetrical wide shot, a giant woman made of roots, arms spread with many hands, white lilies, blue glyphs

  3. Extreme close-up of a giant pale face with piercing blue eyes
    Storyboard frame of the eyes close-up, in grey
    03

    Extreme close-up · the eyes

    Extreme close-up on the giant's face, piercing blue eyes opening, pale skin, soft light from below

  4. A tiny armored knight stands in the middle of a giant open hand
    Storyboard frame of the palm shot, in grey
    04

    High angle · the palm

    High angle, the tiny knight standing in the center of a giant open palm, stone floor far below

  5. A giant fingertip gently touches the chest of a small armored knight
    Storyboard frame of the touch close-up, in grey
    05

    Close-up · the touch

    Close-up, a giant fingertip gently touches the knight's armored chest, faceless helm, emotion through posture

  6. A sleeping pink-haired child curled inside a glowing blue flower
    Storyboard frame of the seed insert, in grey
    06

    Insert · the seed

    Top-down insert, a glowing pale blue flower opening, a sleeping child with pink hair curled inside

Lost Garden, episode 1, 17 minutes, short enough for the under 30 minute category listed on FilmFreeway. The ScreenWeaver team’s animated series, with Seedance footage; it reached the finals of the AI London Festival. Playback starts at the Source Tree, around 7 minutes 35.

The script

A 7 minute short in five movements.

Seven minutes sits well inside the main category. That is about seven screenplay pages and 85 to 105 shots of 4 to 5 seconds, a size one person can finish in four weeks.

  1. 0:00 to 0:40

    The question

    Open on one image that raises a question the film will answer.

  2. 0:40 to 2:10

    The ordinary day

    One person, one routine, one thing they cannot say aloud.

  3. 2:10 to 4:50

    The crossing

    The routine breaks. Each scene asks more of them than the last.

  4. 4:50 to 6:10

    The cost

    What the character gives up. Hold the shot longer than feels safe.

  5. 6:10 to 7:00

    The echo

    Come back to the first image, altered by what happened. Then the credits.

With 25 awards on offer, a film with one clear strength travels furthest. Decide which award you are chasing before you write line one, and give that department the most care.

Month by month

From the first idea to the regular deadline.

Four months from 1 October. We aim at the 20 December regular deadline and keep January as a buffer. The film takes four weeks, the thinking takes the rest.
  1. 01

    October 2026

    Choose the award and the idea

    Pick one headline award from the 25 and write ten loglines for it. Read each aloud to a stranger and keep the one that makes them ask what happens next.

  2. 02

    First half of November

    Write the screenplay

    Seven pages in industry format, written for free in ScreenWeaver. Cut every line a viewer would have to read on screen, since AI video garbles text.

  3. 03

    Second half of November

    References and storyboard

    Approve one reference per character and location, then generate the storyboard from the screenplay. Adjust framing, angle and duration shot by shot before any footage exists.

  4. 04

    1 to 14 December

    Generate the footage

    Run each scene through Seedance, following the board. Keep every version, so you can count later how much of the film is generated.

  5. 05

    15 to 20 December

    Edit, mix and submit

    Cut to length, mix the sound for a hall, add subtitles if the dialogue needs them. Submit on FilmFreeway by the regular deadline.

  6. 06

    January 2027

    Buffer

    The late deadline is 10 January and the final one 1 February. Use the time to fix sound and colour, not to add scenes.

Ways to lose

Six things to check before you pay.

The festival page has no rulebook, so every item below is a reason to open the FilmFreeway listing and read it in full.

  • Under 70% AI

    The FilmFreeway text asks for at least 70% AI in the filmmaking process, in pre-production, production or post. Count it before you mix in live action, and note each tool.

  • An older film

    The first season’s text accepts only films completed after 1 January 2023. Check the cut-off for season two.

  • Too many entries

    That text allows two works per filmmaker. Send your two best films, not four.

  • A feature by accident

    Under 30 minutes is the AI Films category. A film over 30 minutes goes to a Special AI Feature Film category, where selection is limited and left to the jury.

  • The wrong city

    Indywood’s office is in Kochi, but the final screening is at Aries Plex SL Cinemas in Trivandrum. Book nothing before you confirm the venue.

  • Reading only the festival page

    Fees and dates are on the festival page. Duration, eligibility and rights are on FilmFreeway. For anything unclear, write to filmpromotions@indywood.co.in.

Why ScreenWeaver

A festival for AI cinema, a tool built for AI films.

IIAC wants AI-generated films from start to finish. ScreenWeaver is built for that: screenplay, storyboard and footage in one connected project.

  • Powered by Seedance 2.0 and 2.5

    The festival names no required tool. ScreenWeaver’s footage pipelines run on Seedance, so a film made there is AI-generated by design. Credit your tools in the submission.

  • A way to show the 70%

    Every shot traces back to its scene and its storyboard frame. When you need to show how much of the film is generated, the project already holds the answer.

  • One look for the picture awards

    A character, a place or a reference approved once stays the same through the whole film. Jurors read that as cinematography and character work, whichever of the 25 awards you aim for.

  • Writing costs nothing

    Writing a screenplay costs nothing on the free Screenwriter plan. A shot-by-shot storyboard starts at $9.99 a month with Storyboard Beta, and the Filmmaker plan brings footage generation.

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

Indywood International AI Cinefest, your questions

How do you win Indywood International AI Cinefest?
The festival publishes no scoring grid, only 25 award categories and a jury of AI creators, a screenwriter and academics. Pick one award, make the film that fits it cleanly, and keep one look and one story from start to finish.
What is the deadline?
The festival page gives 1 February 2027 as the submission deadline, with the final event on 22 April 2027. FilmFreeway also lists an early bird on 30 November 2026, a regular deadline on 20 December and a late one on 10 January.
What is the entry fee?
The festival page lists an early bird at $12 standard or $10 for students, and a regular fee at $15 standard or $12 for students. The late fee is not shown there.
Is there a prize?
The page promises cash prizes for the best 2 entries, without amounts, and certificates and awards for all winners. Ask the organiser how the cash is split before you plan around it.
Does my film have to be fully AI-generated?
The FilmFreeway listing, as shown by a search engine, asks for at least 70% AI in the filmmaking process, in pre-production, production or post. The festival page states no share, so read the listing’s rules in full.
Can I make my film for the festival with ScreenWeaver?
Yes. The festival names no required tool. ScreenWeaver’s footage pipelines run on Seedance 2.0 and 2.5, and you can write and storyboard there today. Credit every tool you used.
Where is the final screening?
At Aries Plex SL Cinemas in Trivandrum, Kerala, on 22 April 2027. The first season was held at the same cinema on 25 March 2026.
How long can my film be?
The festival page states no length. FilmFreeway, as shown by a search engine, lists an AI Films category under 30 minutes and a Special AI Feature Film category above it. A short of 5 to 10 minutes is the safe choice.

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