OMM Redaksiyası
Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, is hosting what organizers describe as the world’s largest competition dedicated to films made using artificial intelligence. More than 8,000 films from 125 countries have been submitted to the Astana AI Film Festival 2026.
The United States submitted the largest number of films, with 1,395 entries, followed by Kazakhstan with 829. India, China and South Korea also ranked among the top five. The United Kingdom, Indonesia, Japan, Brazil and France were among the 10 countries with the highest number of submissions.
About 40% of the entries — 3,138 films — corresponded to the festival’s theme, “A Future Worth Living.” The remaining 4,929 films were submitted to an open competition covering 19 genres without thematic restrictions.
Aizatulla Khussain, the festival’s co-founder and creative director, said the project was established in Astana in December 2025 amid expectations of rapid development in generative video technologies.
The films are currently undergoing a multistage selection process. The first stage screens entries for plagiarism and low-quality artificial intelligence-generated content, after which the remaining works are assessed by experts in cinema and visual storytelling.
About 150 films will be submitted to the final selection committee, which will choose 25 finalists. Khussain said many films had made a strong impression on the jury, making the final selection difficult. According to him, two films produced in Kazakhstan are already among the early favorites.
The festival’s main prize pool totals $1 million. Of this amount, $750,000 will be allocated to the main thematic program, while $250,000 will be divided among five open categories.
In addition, a $1 million investment fund established by entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan will support promising teams producing films with artificial intelligence. Srinivasan said lower production costs could create new opportunities for smaller language communities to bring their stories to the screen.
Overall, the festival received more than 100,000 minutes of film produced by 4,756 directors. More than 80 generative artificial intelligence models were used in creating the works.
