Palm Springs ShortFest 2027 · AI films guide

Can you submit an AI film to Palm Springs ShortFest?The official pages do not forbid it.

ShortFest is an Academy Award, BAFTA and Goya qualifying short film festival, and its call is open now. Its public pages carry no AI rule, and its 2026 Forum schedule lists a panel on AI. Here is what is verified, what is not, and how to prepare a short.
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  • Call open now
  • Shorts up to 40 minutes
  • Oscar qualifying
Voidborn · Episode 0

Independent guide. ScreenWeaver does not organise Palm Springs ShortFest and is not affiliated with the Palm Springs International Film Society. Rules read on 1 October 2026. Official submissions 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 ShortFest asks of a short.

ShortFest is one of the largest short film showcases in North America, with 300 shorts from more than 60 countries. Its own pages are thin on rules: the details sit on FilmFreeway, which we could not read, so some lines below come from the last call as reported by listings.
Festival
ShortFest 2026 ran 23 to 29 June. 2027 dates not published
Call
Open, according to the official page. Submit on FilmFreeway
Deadline
Not readable. The 2026 final deadline was 7 February 2026
Length
Up to 40 minutes, credits included (2026 call)
Eligibility
Made in the last two years. No premiere status required (2026 call)
Entry fee
From $45 in 2026, per a listing
AI rule
None on the official pages
Qualifying
Academy Award, BAFTA and Goya

Source: psfilmfest.org (Submissions, About ShortFest, Awards and Jury, Forum schedule), read on 1 October 2026. Length, premiere status, deadlines and fees for the 2026 call come from third-party listings, since the FilmFreeway page blocks automated reading. Confirm them for 2027.

What ShortFest says about AI

No clause found, one panel on stage.

There is nothing to quote from the festival's own rules. What is public is a discussion, and it tells you how the festival thinks.

  • The official pages

    The Submissions page says submissions for the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival are open and sends you to FilmFreeway. The pages on the festival, its awards and its FAQ contain no clause on AI. The FAQ is about tickets, not about films.

  • What we could not read

    The FilmFreeway page, where the real submission terms live, blocks automated access. A clause may exist there. Read it before you pay, or write to info@psfilmfest.org with the exact question.

  • The 2026 Forum panel

    The ShortFest Forum schedule lists a panel on AI for shorts filmmakers with limited budgets and small crews. It promises talk of real applications, guardrails and where the line between efficiency and artistry lives, staying grounded in authentic voice and vision.

  • Who spoke

    The panel's list includes Jacob Adler, whose video essay Total Pixel Space won the Grand Prix at the 2025 Runway AI Film Festival, and Jeff Bowers of Asteria, formerly head of curation at Vimeo. The festival invites AI makers to its stage, not only critics.

  • The Academy layer

    ShortFest is Oscar qualifying, so Academy rules sit behind the awards. They treat generative AI as neither a help nor a harm and ask how central a human was to the authorship. Our Oscars guide reads them clause by clause.

Key dates

The last cycle, as a calendar for the next one.

The official page says submissions are open but gives no 2027 dates. <b>Use the 2026 cycle as a map</b>, and read FilmFreeway for the real ones.

  1. 1 Nov 2025

    First window opened

    The earliest 2026 deadline in the listings. The official page says ShortFest submissions are open now, without dates.

  2. 7 Feb 2026

    Final deadline

    The festival itself posted a last call for this date on its social channels. Dates for the 2027 edition are on FilmFreeway.

  3. 15 May 2026

    Notification

    The date given in a listing for the last cycle. ShortFest programs more than 300 shorts.

  4. 23 to 29 Jun 2026

    ShortFest 2026

    Seven days in Palm Springs, with programs of about 90 minutes and a Forum of panels and classes.

Who decides

Juries of filmmakers, one per prize.

ShortFest names its 2026 juries on its awards page, by category. They are practising filmmakers, programmers and producers, which says what the festival values.

  • Best of the Fest

    Julia Aks, Oscar nominated for the short Jane Austen's Period Drama, producer Kayla Foster, Moana 2 director Dana Ledoux Miller and director Gus Van Sant. A mix of short filmmakers and a veteran auteur.

  • Best Animated Short

    William Caballero, a Sundance 2026 award winner for TheyDream, and John Kelly, whose short Retirement Plan won at SXSW 2025, among others. The jury is anchored by animation filmmakers, so craft in motion and design counts.

  • Programmers and producers

    Other category juries include programmers and distributors, such as the founder of the Video Store Age label, a former Sundance features programmer. Their own taste is shaped by years on the circuit.

  • Audiences and local juries

    Audience ballots decide four prizes. Three local juries add one prize each: Desert Views, Young Cineastes and Kids' Choice. A film can win without pleasing the industry jury.

Prizes

Six prizes that matter to an AI short.

ShortFest has no themes. It has 22 prizes, listed on its awards page. Six of them are within reach of a film built with generative tools, and here is the angle for each.

  • 01

    Best Animated Short

    $1,000, for an animated student or non-student short film.

    The natural door for a generated animation, and one of the Oscar-qualifying awards. Design and movement are what the animator jury will judge.

  • 02

    Best Live-Action Short, 15 minutes and under

    $1,000, with a separate prize for live-action shorts over 15 minutes.

    A photoreal generated film must not pose as live action. Describe it honestly and ask the festival where it belongs.

  • 03

    Best Midnight Short

    A $1,000 special jury prize.

    The genre door: horror, action, the unsettling. Generated imagery suits it, but the sound and the editing must hold the fear.

  • 04

    Best International Short

    $1,000, for a short whose primary country is not the USA.

    A prize for a short whose primary country is not the USA, so a team in Europe or Asia has a natural category. Say clearly where the film was made.

  • 05

    Vimeo Staff Pick

    $5,000, presented by Vimeo.

    Staff Picks are chosen by Vimeo's curators. Make the first image count, and make a film that is watchable on a small screen.

  • 06

    Best of the Festival

    $5,000, for an animated, documentary or live-action short, student or not.

    The top prize. There is no AI route to it that is not also a story route: the best film wins, whatever the method.

How big the field is

What the numbers tell you.

ShortFest is selective and wide at once. It shows more than 300 shorts from over 60 countries and gives out 22 prizes, which is a lot of room but a lot of competition.

  1. 01

    300 shorts is a large lineup, not an easy one. The festival does not publish how many films are submitted, so we cannot state the odds. Treat it as a competitive festival.

  2. 02

    Programs run about 90 minutes. Films are screened in blocks, so a 12 minute short fits a block more easily than a 38 minute one. That is our reading of the format, not a festival rule.

  3. 03

    The prizes are cash. Most carry $1,000 and two carry $5,000, the Best of the Festival award and the Vimeo Staff Pick.

  4. 04

    Juries are circuit filmmakers. Several have premiered or won at Sundance and SXSW. They will compare your short to the best of the circuit, not to other AI films.

A short to take to California

Voidborn: a midnight action short in six shots.

The ruins scene from Voidborn, episode 0, an anime by the ScreenWeaver team made with Seedance. It would play as an animated short, and its night, blades and lightning also suit the Midnight prize. At 13 minutes it is well inside the 40 minute ceiling, and a cut could drop to about 10 to sit comfortably in a 90 minute program.

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. It took 1st Place Silver and 2nd Place Dreamina at the Mondial Chroma Awards, plus an award at the Seoul International AI Film Festival. The player opens on the ruins scene, about seven minutes in.

The script

Twelve minutes, four movements.

ShortFest takes shorts up to 40 minutes, but a short that ends sooner is easier to program. Aim for 12 minutes: about 12 screenplay pages and 110 to 140 shots of 4 to 6 seconds.

  1. 0:00 to 0:40

    The hook

    A programmer watches a block of films in a row. Start with the strangest true image of your film.

  2. 0:40 to 3:00

    The pact

    Who we follow, what they want and what the film will not show. Pick the look now and keep it.

  3. 3:00 to 9:30

    The test

    Raise the cost in each scene. Let one scene run on sound and a face, with no dialogue.

  4. 9:30 to 12:00

    The landing

    A choice and its price. Stop one beat early, then the credits.

A film in another language needs English subtitles, and a selected short may need to be delivered as a DCP, according to the last call's listing. Plan the master early.

Month by month

From now to the final deadline.

The call is open and the final deadline last cycle was in early February. This plan ends in the first week of February 2027, which gives you four months.
  1. 01

    October 2026

    Read the real rules

    Open the FilmFreeway page and read every term, AI included. Email the festival if anything is unclear. Browse the 2026 films on the festival's film finder.

  2. 02

    November 2026

    Screenplay

    Twelve pages, free in ScreenWeaver. One idea, one image the audience will quote, and an ending that costs the character something.

  3. 03

    December 2026

    Storyboard

    Draw every shot as a frame, with the camera movement noted. Plan the sound as carefully as the picture.

  4. 04

    January 2027

    Generate and cut

    Scene by scene with Seedance in ScreenWeaver as video generation reaches your plan. Keep the prompts and note every tool used.

  5. 05

    Late January 2027

    Master and subtitle

    Mix, subtitle in English, export a clean master. Check running time against the 40 minute ceiling, credits included.

  6. 06

    First week of February 2027

    Submit

    Submit on FilmFreeway before the final deadline on its page. Do not wait for the last day: a missed window is a missed year.

Ways to lose a spot

Eight ways a short fails at ShortFest.

Most of what follows comes from the last call's listing, not from a page we could read in full. Confirm each point on FilmFreeway for 2027.

  • Skipping the FilmFreeway terms

    The official pages carry no AI clause, but the terms of the entry page may. Read them, and ask by email if they are silent.

  • A short over 40 minutes

    The 2026 call took films up to 40 minutes, credits included. A 40:01 cut was not eligible.

  • A film that is too old

    The 2026 call took shorts produced in 2025 or 2026. Last year's film may be fine, but a film from two years ago may not.

  • No English subtitles

    Non-English shorts needed English subtitles in the 2026 call. Dialogue made with a voice model counts as dialogue.

  • No master for a screening

    A selected short may be asked for a DCP. A video file that falls apart on a cinema screen wastes a selection. Check for banding, flicker and noise.

  • A generated film filed as live action

    Describe the film as it is. A photoreal AI short is not photographed live action, and the Academy defines live action by practical photography. Ask the festival where it belongs.

  • Leaving it to the last week

    The last window closes on a fixed date, and earlier windows are usually cheaper. Submit when the film is ready, not on the last day.

  • Pitching the tool, not the film

    The jurors are filmmakers and programmers. They want a short with a point of view. A logline about the model gets less attention than one about a person.

Why ScreenWeaver

A short is a screenplay with a plan.

ShortFest sets no tool and no AI quota in public. ScreenWeaver is a screenplay, storyboard and footage pipeline in one connected project, made to produce the finished short a festival expects.

  • Twelve pages that hold

    The Screenwriter plan is free with no time limit. It formats the screenplay properly, exports PDF and Final Draft, and keeps your work private. A short stands or falls on its pages.

  • A look that does not drift

    Circuit juries notice a face that changes between shots. Characters, locations and references carry from shot to shot, so the film reads as one hand.

  • A record if the festival asks

    Scene, frame and prompt stay attached to every shot. If a festival or the FilmFreeway terms ask what AI did, the answer is already in the project.

  • Start for free today

    The twelve pages are free, with no time limit. Add Storyboard Beta at $9.99 a month, then Seedance footage when the Filmmaker plan reaches you.

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

Palm Springs ShortFest and AI films, your questions

Can you submit an AI film to Palm Springs ShortFest?
The official pages carry no AI rule, and the festival's 2026 Forum held a panel on AI in shorts. The FilmFreeway terms could not be read, so confirm there before you pay.
Is ShortFest Oscar qualifying?
Yes. The festival describes itself as Academy Award, BAFTA and Goya qualifying, and its awards page carries an Oscar qualifying banner above the main prizes. Academy rules on generative AI sit behind that status.
When is the next deadline?
The official page says submissions are open and does not list dates. The 2026 final deadline was 7 February 2026, and ShortFest ran from 23 to 29 June 2026. Read FilmFreeway for the 2027 dates.
How long can a short be?
Up to 40 minutes, credits included, according to the 2026 call as listed by third parties. The festival's own pages do not state it, so confirm it on FilmFreeway.
What does it cost?
A listing shows fees from $45 for the 2026 call. The festival's pages give no price. Fees usually rise with each deadline, so submit in the earliest window.
Is a premiere required?
Not in the 2026 call, which said no premiere status was required. A short that has played elsewhere or online may be eligible. Check the 2027 terms.
What prizes can an AI short win?
Any of 22. The ones closest to an AI film are Best Animated Short, Best Midnight Short and the Vimeo Staff Pick, which pays $5,000. The Best of the Festival award also pays $5,000.
Who judges the awards?
Category juries named on the awards page: filmmakers, producers and programmers, with audience ballots and three local juries on top. The festival publishes the names for 2026 and the list changes each year.

The call is open. Start with the page.

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