Higgsfield opens a $1 million AI film festival, and the fine print matters

There is a $1,000,000 prize pool on the table for AI short films, and the fine print matters more than the number.

Higgsfield has opened its Global Film Festival. According to the contest page, the pool breaks down as $500,000 for first place, $200,000 for second, $100,000 for third, $100,000 for an Audience Choice award and $100,000 split across ten honorable mentions. Fourteen winners total.

Dates and format

Submissions open August 7 and close August 31, 2026, with winners announced at the end of September. Films must run at least three minutes, with three to five recommended. Entries are unlimited, but each film must stand alone.

The conditions people skip

Entry is for Higgsfield subscribers only, 18 and over, solo or in teams of up to four, open worldwide only where permitted by law.

On its own X account, Higgsfield says the jury includes Academy Award-winning members, and separately that Seedance 2.0 in 4K is now free for all users, down from 260 credits, “for a limited time.” Sponsored posts push a further figure of roughly $10,000,000 in free compute. All of that comes from the company’s own channels, so treat it as marketing until independently confirmed.

No judge has been named yet: the contest page reveals them one per day.

Before you spend a month on a film

If you are thinking about entering, read the official rules yourself before committing serious time. Two things in particular deserve a close look: what rights you hand over on submission, and what the subscription actually costs you for the entry window.

A large prize pool attached to a subscription gate is a customer-acquisition structure as much as a festival. That does not make it a bad deal for filmmakers; it just means the deal should be read as one.