TAIFF 2026 · Istanbul · Guide

How to win TAIFF, the Türkiye AI Film Festival.Twenty minutes. AI from start to finish.

The rules, the categories, how the jury works and a plan for the 1 November 2026 deadline. TAIFF asks for generative AI across the whole production, so write, storyboard and generate your film in one place, ScreenWeaver.
Start writing for freeSee the scene
  • Deadline 1 November 2026
  • Festival 7 to 9 December
  • 20 minutes maximum
Voidborn · Episode 0

Independent guide. ScreenWeaver does not organise TAIFF and is not affiliated with its founders or organisers. Regulations read on 1 October 2026. Official regulations

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 TAIFF's regulations require.

TAIFF is one of the first AI film festivals in the world, founded by university researchers in 2024. Its regulations are short and strict on one point: generative AI must run through the whole production.
Festival
7 to 9 December 2026, Istanbul
Deadline
1 November 2026, on FilmFreeway only
AI requirement
Generative AI throughout the production
Runtime
20 minutes maximum
Completed
After 1 January 2025
Release status
Never broadcast on TV or digital platforms
Entries
Up to two works per participant
Subtitles
English, plus Turkish for films not in Turkish

Source: the festival regulations on aitff.com, read on 1 October 2026. The 2026 venue is not named there (2024: Istanbul Gelişim University, 2025: Marmara University), and the regulations state no entry fee. The festival can change its regulations.

Key dates

Thirty-one days to apply.

TAIFF has one application window and no early or late tiers in its regulations. Everything depends on the 1 November date.

  1. 25 Jun 2026

    Applications open

    Applications are made online through FilmFreeway, and only there.

  2. 1 Nov 2026

    Applications close

    The last day to apply. At least 20 films must pass the preliminary evaluation for the competition to take place.

  3. Date not published

    Selection announced

    Films in the competition are announced on the festival website and in the media. After that, a film cannot be withdrawn.

  4. 7 to 9 Dec 2026

    The festival

    Screenings by category and an awards ceremony in Istanbul. The 2025 edition ran from 9 to 11 December.

What the jury reads

Four named criteria, no weights.

The regulations list screenplay, AI usage, visual effects and overall aesthetic integrity, with no weights. The festival grew out of university research on AI and cinema, and its stated values are ethical responsibility and technical integrity.

  • Screenplay

    First in the list. Write the screenplay before the first prompt, and keep it simple enough to be filmed in a few places with few faces. A short film is judged on its idea and its turn.

  • AI usage

    The rule is generative AI throughout, so this criterion asks how well you used it. Show AI doing what a camera cannot, and keep your prompts and process notes ready, since the festival may ask for them.

  • Visual effects

    Named as a criterion, and also an award of its own. Clean compositing, believable light and stable characters count. One flawed shot can undo ten good ones.

  • Overall aesthetic integrity

    The festival cites aesthetic and technical integrity as its aim. One coherent look, with sound and music to match, reads as integrity. A patchwork of styles does not.

Transparency and ownership are part of the stated mission. Credit every contributor, as the regulations require.

Who decides

Two stages, and a festival that keeps control.

The 2026 jury is not announced. The regulations describe the process, and the 2025 programme shows how the juries were organised.

  • The pre-selection panel

    Festival management appoints it, and its members are not named. Films that pass go to the main jury. At least 20 films must pass for the competition to take place.

  • The main jury

    Its decision is final and irrevocable. It is recorded in a report signed by the jurors and handed to management by the jury president. Management may add a non-voting observer to the deliberation.

  • The 2025 jury as a guide

    In 2025 the jury president was Tolga Karaçelik, and separate juries of five or six people judged international fiction, international animation, national fiction and national animation. Your category decides who watches your film.

  • The management's powers

    The festival can disqualify a film that fails the conditions even after it passes selection, can change the regulations when it sees fit, and need not explain selection choices. Read the regulations again on the day you apply.

Categories and awards

Six categories, ten awards.

Applications go into three international and three national categories. Awards then go beyond them, to craft prizes. Five ways to read the list, with the angle we would take.

  • 01

    International Best AI Short Film

    Fiction shorts in the international competition.

    The widest field: 1,091 submissions from 94 countries in 2024, and 1,383 from more than 100 countries in 2025. Make a film that crosses languages: the festival asks for Turkish and English subtitles.

  • 02

    International Best AI Animated Short Film

    Animated shorts in the international competition.

    Animation suits a first AI film: a stylised world hides few flaws and holds from shot to shot. Choose it if your film has a fixed graphic style.

  • 03

    International Best AI Documentary

    A documentary category on the 2026 list.

    An AI documentary raises the question of what is real. Label every generated image in the film or in the credits, as the festival values transparency.

  • 04

    The national categories (Türkiye)

    A short, an animated film and a documentary, marked Türkiye on the form.

    The regulations do not define what makes a film national. Ask the festival through its contact address before you choose between national and international.

  • 05

    The craft awards

    Ten awards in all, including Best AI Actor, Visual Effects, Editing, Cinematography, Sound Design and Music, and a Jury Special Prize.

    The craft awards reward the work inside the film. Treat sound and editing as seriously as image, and credit each contributor.

Two editions

What 2024 and 2025 tell us.

The first edition ran from 9 to 13 December 2024 at Istanbul Gelişim University, with 1,091 submissions from 94 countries and ten awards. The second ran from 9 to 11 December 2025 at Marmara University, with 1,383 submissions from more than 100 countries.

  1. 01

    Competition is rising. Submissions grew by about a quarter in a year, and each category has its own jury.

  2. 02

    Finalists are screened by category. The 2025 programme shows separate screenings for international fiction, international animation, national animation and national fiction finalists. Choose the category your film can win.

  3. 03

    The categories change. 2024 had experimental films, the 2025 programme shows fiction and animation, and 2026 lists short, animated short and documentary. Read the current list.

  4. 04

    It is an academic festival with an industry side. The programme mixed workshops, a Runway meet-up and screenings, plus special selections outside competition. A clear process note helps.

  5. 05

    No winners list could be read. The archive pages show programmes, juries and counts, but no list of winners. Do not model your film on a guess.

Inside the 20 minutes

Voidborn: thirteen minutes, six shots.

TAIFF caps films at 20 minutes and has an animated short category. Here is the opening of Voidborn, episode 0, an anime short from the ScreenWeaver team, taken from page to screen: the script, the storyboard frames, the final shots.

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, 13 minutes, well inside TAIFF's cap. Its record: 1st Place Silver and 2nd Place Dreamina at the Mondial Chroma Awards, plus an award at the Seoul International AI Film Festival. It is already public on YouTube, which TAIFF's rule on prior broadcast would not allow: keep yours private until you have applied. The player opens on this scene.

The script

A 12 minute film in five movements.

TAIFF allows up to 20 minutes. Twelve minutes gives a fiction or animated short room to breathe and leaves a margin under the cap. That is 12 screenplay pages and 100 to 145 shots of 5 to 7 seconds.

  1. 0:00 to 1:00

    The cold open

    One striking image and a question. The pre-selection committee sees a lot of films.

  2. 1:00 to 3:00

    The rules of the world

    Characters, place and what is at stake. Introduce each AI-made element once.

  3. 3:00 to 8:00

    The long middle

    Five minutes in which the plan fails twice. Vary rooms and scale to keep attention.

  4. 8:00 to 10:30

    The reckoning

    The choice is made, and it costs. This is the scene a jury remembers.

  5. 10:30 to 12:00

    The afterimage

    A closing image that changes the meaning of the first. Then the full credits, which the festival requires.

TAIFF asks for complete credits, and for Turkish plus English subtitles when the film is not in Turkish. Build the credits and the .srt file while you edit, not the night before.

Week by week

From today to the 1 November deadline.

Thirty-one days is enough for a 10 to 12 minute film if the screenplay is done within the week. Log your prompts and process notes as you go: the festival may ask for them.
  1. 01

    1 to 7 October

    Category and screenplay

    Choose fiction, animation or documentary, national or international. Write the screenplay in a week: short, visual, few characters.

  2. 02

    8 to 14 October

    Storyboard and reference sheets

    Storyboard every shot and approve one reference per character and place. The rules ask for generative AI throughout, so start using it here and keep a record.

  3. 03

    15 to 24 October

    Generate the footage

    Generate scene by scene. Log prompts, tools and versions in one document, since the festival can ask for prompts and production information.

  4. 04

    25 to 28 October

    Edit, sound and music

    Cut to 12 minutes or less. Sound design and music have their own awards, so give them a real pass, not a placeholder.

  5. 05

    29 and 30 October

    Credits and subtitles

    Write the full credits. Export the subtitles in .srt: Turkish and English for a film not in Turkish, English for a Turkish one.

  6. 06

    31 October

    Prepare the FilmFreeway page

    Poster, trailer and stills are required uploads. Do not publish the film online: films already shown on TV or digital platforms are not eligible.

  7. 07

    1 November

    Apply

    Apply on FilmFreeway, the only route. Up to two works per participant. Once the selection is announced, you cannot withdraw.

Regulation traps

Eight ways to be disqualified.

All of them come from the regulations. The festival can disqualify a film that fails a condition, even after selection. Read the whole text before you apply.

  • Posting the film first

    Films previously broadcast on TV channels or digital platforms are not eligible. A public YouTube or Vimeo upload puts you at risk. Keep the film private until the festival.

  • Using AI for effects only

    Generative AI must run through the entire production process. A live-action film with AI visual effects is not what the regulations describe.

  • Going over 20 minutes

    Films must not exceed 20 minutes. The text does not say whether the credits count, so stay under 20 with them.

  • Incomplete credits

    Rights holders must supply the complete credits, roll or caption information. Missing credits break a rule and can get a film disqualified.

  • No subtitle file

    A film not in Turkish needs Turkish and English subtitles, and the subtitle file in .srt format must be uploaded with the application.

  • Unlogged prompts

    The festival can ask for prompts and production information. If you cannot supply them, the film is exposed. Keep a log from the first generation.

  • Withdrawing after selection

    After the selected films are announced, filmmakers cannot withdraw. Do not apply with a film you plan to sell to a platform before December.

  • An old film, or too many

    Only films completed after 1 January 2025 may apply, up to two per participant. And the festival can drop a film that fails the conditions even after it passes the pre-selection.

Why ScreenWeaver

TAIFF wants AI throughout. ScreenWeaver is built that way.

In ScreenWeaver, screenplay, storyboard and footage live in one connected project. That is the shape of a film made with AI from the first page to the last frame.

  • AI at every stage of the pipeline

    ScreenWeaver puts AI in the shot breakdown, the storyboard, the previsualization and the footage, which runs on Seedance 2.0 and 2.5. You can state in your application where AI was used, stage by stage.

  • A process you can show

    The festival wants prompts and production information on request. When every shot traces back to its scene and its storyboard frame, most of that file already exists.

  • Fiction or animation, one pipeline

    ScreenWeaver builds films in several styles, anime and 3D animation among them. The same pipeline serves the fiction and the animated categories, with up to two works per participant.

  • Write today, free

    The Screenwriter plan is $0, with no expiry, so week one of the plan costs nothing. Storyboard Beta costs $9.99 a month. Footage generation comes with the Filmmaker plan, now rolling out.

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

TAIFF, your questions

How do you win TAIFF?
Films are judged on screenplay, AI usage, visual effects and overall aesthetic integrity, first by a pre-selection committee, then by a main jury whose decision is final. The regulations publish no weights. Use generative AI across the whole production, tell a clear story and deliver a clean film of 20 minutes or less. One trophy goes to one film per category.
When do applications close?
Applications run from 25 June to 1 November 2026, on FilmFreeway only. The festival takes place from 7 to 9 December 2026 in Istanbul.
Does AI have to be used throughout?
Yes. Only films in which generative AI was used throughout the entire production process may participate. Using AI for visual effects alone does not match that wording.
How long can the film be?
Up to 20 minutes. Fiction, animation and documentary are all accepted.
Can I submit a film already on YouTube?
No. Films previously broadcast on TV channels or digital platforms are not eligible. Having taken part in other competitions, or won awards elsewhere, does not exclude you.
What subtitles are needed?
English subtitles for films in Turkish, and Turkish plus English for any other language. The subtitle file in .srt format must be uploaded with the application.
Is there an entry fee or prize money?
The regulations state neither. An award trophy goes to one film in each category. Check the FilmFreeway page for the current terms before you apply.
Who is on the jury?
The 2026 jury is not announced. In 2025 it was led by Tolga Karaçelik, with separate juries by category. Festival management appoints the pre-selection committee and the main jury, and the main jury's decision is final.

Thirty-one days. One film.

Begin the screenplay today, at no cost. Storyboard it, then bring each shot to the screen with Seedance.
Start writing for freeBack to the demo