NYC INDIE Notifications
Sep 24, 2026
Decisions out to every filmmaker
Brooklyn · Inaugural · 2026
Independent film,
Independent film,
built with AI.
Screened in Brooklyn.
The Idea
Two rooms turn you away. This is the third.
Independent filmmakers who work with AI keep getting shown the door twice. The traditional indie circuit treats the tools as cheating. The "AI film" circuit rewards the slickest tech demo and forgets the story ever mattered.
NYC Indie Cinema and AI is built for the overlap. The film shot on nothing, held together with generative tools and stubbornness, that still has a pulse. We do not care how you made the impossible shot. We care whether it lands.
Made independently. Made with AI. Judged as films, not demos.
What We Look For
Three things. That is all.
/ 01
Independent
No studio money, no studio notes. Made on your own terms, however you scraped it together.
/ 02
AI in the build
Generative video, image, voice, sound, edit, script, or the idea itself. How much is up to you. We are not counting percentages.
/ 03
A pulse
A story, a feeling, a reason to keep watching. The tools are the how, never the why.
Awards
What the night hands out.
★
Best Film
The one the whole room stops talking over
01Best DirectorVision and grip, start to finish
02Best ScreenplayThe script under everything
03Best Use of AITools in service of the story
04Best Visual CraftCamera, look, design, effects
05Best EditingRhythm, pace, the cut that controls the room
06Audience ChoiceDecided by the room on the night
Rules & Eligibility
What gets in.
- IndependentMade outside the studio system, on your own money or money you had to ask nicely for.
- AI somewhere in the pipelineArtificial intelligence has to have done real work in the making of the film. Fully generated or lightly assisted, both count.
- Short films, 40 minutes or underAny genre, fiction or not, animation or hybrid. If it defies the category, even better.
- SubtitlesAnything not in English needs English subtitles.
- Yours to hand overEverything on screen and on the soundtrack, model output included, has to be cleared and owned before you enter.
- EnteringThrough FilmFreeway. Fees are non-refundable. Enter as many separate films as you like, one submission each.
- Our callProgramme and prizes are decided by the festival. If the entries push us somewhere unexpected, the categories move.
The Screening
Submit your film ↗
One night. One room.
Screening
Fri Oct 2, 2026
Doors and drinks · 5:00 PM
Venue
The Tiger Room
1186 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11216