Season 1 · Marrero, Louisiana · West Bank
AI New Orleans
SHORTS
A one-night, one-room short film festival for films that used artificial intelligence somewhere in the making of them, held on the eve of La Toussaint, when this part of Louisiana already spends the night tending to what came before.
The band opens the street.
Everybody else is the second line.
The week before November 1st, Creole families across South Louisiana still drive out to the cemeteries and whitewash the tombs, so the dead can be seen clearly for one more year before La Toussaint, All Saints' Day. October 31 here is not costume night first. It's the eve of that upkeep, a night about tending to what came before you, not erasing it.
That's the posture this festival takes toward artificial intelligence in film: the tool doesn't lead the procession and it doesn't get a say in what the film is about. It's welcome to fall in step once the real work, a story, a voice, a reason to have made the thing at all, is already moving. In a jazz funeral, the family and the band open the street; everybody else who falls in after them is the second line, uninvited, unranked, and not the point of the parade. AI New Orleans SHORTS only wants submissions where the film is still the point.
We take short films of any genre, from any country, that can show their work: somewhere in the writing, the image-making, the voice, the score, or the cut, a machine had its hands on the film, and the person submitting it can say plainly where. This happens once, in one room, in Marrero, on the West Bank, a working stretch of the metro that doesn't show up on the postcards. We are not a showcase for demos and we are not a novelty booth. We are a room with chairs in it.
On October 31, 2026, at 3:00 PM, we're bringing the selected films to a room at DBA Business Centre, 4657 Westbank Expressway, Marrero, Louisiana. Expect a screening of the program, a Q&A afterward with whichever directors made the trip or can join by video, and unstructured time after that to stand around and talk, filmmakers and audience together. No formal mixer. Just a room that stays open.
Eight prizes. Plain names.
- Best AI Short Grand prize. Best film in the program, any genre, any length under the cap.
- Best Director For the steadiest hand on a film where a lot of the tools were new.
- Best Music Video For the film that moves with its music, not just plays over it.
- Best Experimental Film For work that isn't trying to resemble conventional narrative at all.
- Best Visual Work Best cinematography, image generation, or visual effects, whichever did the heavier lifting.
- Best Sound & Score Best use of sound and music. In a city that built its reputation on both, we take this one seriously.
- Best Editing Best cut. The film that knew exactly when to leave.
- Audience Choice Voted by whoever is in the room on October 31.
Ten rules. Read them before you pay a fee.
- 01Length. 20 minutes or under, credits included. A second line doesn't linger at any one corner; neither should your cut.
- 02Genre. Open to all genres and formats, fiction and nonfiction alike.
- 03Completion date. Completed on or after January 1, 2024.
- 04AI involvement. AI must have played a real, describable role somewhere in the making, in the script, the images, the voice, the score, or the edit. Say where, in the submission notes. AI used only for marketing or a poster does not qualify.
- 05Language. English, or subtitled in English if the dialogue is not.
- 06Premiere status. None required. Films already screened, streamed, or awarded elsewhere remain eligible.
- 07Multiple entries. Submit more than one film if you have them. Each is a separate entry with its own fee.
- 08Rights. You must hold the rights to enter the film and let us screen it publicly on the date above.
- 09Format. Digital file, MP4 or MOV, minimum 1080p.
- 10Discretion. We reserve the right to decline any submission without giving a reason, and to set the running order for pacing.
Marrero, Louisiana.
West Bank of the river.
The screening is at DBA Business Centre, 4657 Westbank Expressway, Marrero, LA 70072, on October 31, 2026, at 3:00 PM. Doors open a half hour before. Come early if you want a seat near the front, or just don't want to stand.
The film goes in through FilmFreeway, not through us directly: filmfreeway.com/AINewOrleansSHORTS. Anything else, write first: contact@aineworleansshorts.com.