The Hong Kong AI International Film Festival has opened entries for its 2027 edition with a rewritten rulebook, according to an announcement from its organising association, the Hong Kong AI International Film Festival Association, distributed as a press release. Submissions close at 11:59 p.m. Hong Kong time on March 1, 2027, cost $99 per work with no extra charge for award categories, and are open to individuals, teams, studios and schools. Applications go through the festival's own site, hkaiiff.io, and the organisers present the changes as a shift from measuring how much AI a film uses to judging what its makers achieve with it.
The biggest change is to who qualifies. The first edition, held July 17 to 23, 2026, required productions to meet a 51% AI threshold. The 2027 rules set no percentage at all. Instead, the organisers say, AI has to make a substantive contribution to the main images and sound, the performances, the way the story is organised, the generative rules of a piece or the audience's experience of it. Using AI only for subtitles, noise removal, upscaling or paperwork does not count. Entrants must send a complete work that can be judged, not a trailer, pitch or reel of striking clips, and must explain the important decisions people made along the way.
The 19 prizes handed out in the first year give way to seven. The Golden Unicorn Grand Prix goes to the strongest overall achievement, and fixed films, interactive pieces and generative experiences compete for it on equal terms, with no bonus for novelty, scalability or sequel potential. Three Silver Unicorns reward creative method, digital characters and worldbuilding; the festival stresses they are not runner-up prizes, and a work can win one without making the main shortlist. The method award looks at how creators frame problems, pick and revise outputs and keep control, not at tool budgets or automation rates. The remaining three awards cover narrative, audiovisual and experiential innovation, with interactive entries expected to arrive as runnable versions that jurors can explore and replay.
Several rules deal with practical barriers. Teams with proprietary workflows can show them through restricted demonstrations or redacted evidence rather than publishing code. Films in any language are accepted with adequate English subtitles or transcripts. Previously released work may enter, there is no premiere requirement and no general minimum running time, but the submitted version must have been completed on or after August 1, 2026. Credits can be shared, one person can hold several roles, and entrants do not need a company or a traditional crew.
The organisers also say they are keeping judging apart from the commercial side of the operation. Buying listings in the festival's INDEX database, which catalogues films, workflows, characters and worlds under a standard run by a partner body called IAISA, is not a condition of entry, and turning down promotion or market deals does not affect how a work is assessed. Entering or winning does not hand over any rights. Works and individual achievements get separate jury panels, jurors must review whole submissions, declare conflicts and give reasons, and a prize can be left unawarded. The Grand Prix needs at least five eligible jurors and a two-thirds majority; other awards need three jurors and a simple majority.
The release repeats figures the organiser published after the first edition, with its own caveats: 1,140 media and distribution records in 56 countries and territories, which it says include newswire endpoints rather than 1,140 separate stories, and more than $12 million in transactions covering 101 titles through its AI film market, reported only as a total. It also notes that its A-Class status comes from an AI festival federation, IFAIFPA, that is separate from FIAPF, the body that accredits traditional film festivals. Dates, venues and prize details for 2027 are still to be announced.
Sources · 1