Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — The three-day final programme of the Astana AI Film Festival (AAIFF 2026), an international competition for films created using artificial intelligence, has opened in Astana. A total of 25 works reached the final from 8,067 entries submitted from 125 countries. The festival has a total fund of US$2 million.
The first day featured a closed screening of the competition films. Audiences were shown works by creators from the United States, Canada, Italy, South Korea, China and Kazakhstan.
The competition programme includes films across 19 genres created using more than 80 generative artificial intelligence models. The combined running time of all works submitted to the competition exceeded 100,000 minutes.
Prize fund and AI industry investment
The total fund of the Astana AI Film Festival amounts to US$2 million. Of this, US$1 million is allocated for prizes for the winners. The funds were provided by the Freedom Shapagat corporate foundation under Freedom Holding Corp. of Timur Turlov.
Another US$1 million has been allocated as investment capital for promising teams working in artificial intelligence.
The funds are intended to support the development of film production and the AI ecosystem in Kazakhstan. The investor is entrepreneur and venture investor Balaji Srinivasan, who previously served as chief technology officer of Coinbase and worked as a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). He is also the founder of The Network School.
International jury and festival programme
The finalists will be evaluated by an international jury comprising representatives of the film industry, academia and technology businesses.
The jury includes former UNESCO Director-General and former French Culture Minister Audrey Azoulay; Ma Ping, dean of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence Research at China Film Group; Wang Hao, deputy dean of the Animation Faculty at the Beijing Film Academy; Balaji Srinivasan; and Li Long, BytePlus general manager for the Middle East and Africa, India, Türkiye and CIS markets.
The closed screening gave audiences an opportunity to see how artificial intelligence is changing approaches to filmmaking.
Particular attention was drawn to the possibilities offered by new technologies in visual effects, imagery and storytelling.
After the closed screening, one audience member told an UzDaily correspondent that the festival clearly demonstrates new possibilities for using artificial intelligence in cinema.
“It is interesting to see how many possibilities artificial intelligence opens up for filmmaking. Some works are impressive for their visual effects, while others stand out for their originality and unusual approach to storytelling. At the same time, for me it is important that behind the technological solutions there is an interesting story and emotions capable of reaching the audience. I think festivals like this help show how cinema is changing and what prospects are opening up for creators,” the audience member told UzDaily.
The final events are being held from 1 to 3 October as part of AI Month and the international AI & Digital Bridge 2026 technology conference.
Following the closed screening, the competition films will become available to the general public. On 2 and 3 October, the finalists’ films will be screened on the big screen at Chaplin cinema, located in the MEGA Silk Way shopping and entertainment centre. Tickets are available through Kino.kz and the Freedom SuperApp.
The winners will be announced on 3 October, the final day of the festival.
Freedom Holding Corp. is the general partner of the Astana AI Film Festival, The Network School is the technology partner, and Kazakhstan’s online service Kino.kz is also a partner of the event.
The festival brings together filmmakers, AI technology developers and investors, showcasing new possibilities for using artificial intelligence to create audiovisual content and develop the creative industries.
