Higgsfield Launches $1 Million AI Film Festival With Edwin Catmull on the Jury

Higgsfield has announced a global AI film festival with $1 million in prizes and Pixar co-founder Edwin Catmull as a juror. Seedance 2.5 may lower production barriers, but the claim that the first fully AI-made theatrical film will arrive next year remains speculative.

Published 8/6/2026, 9:16:52 AMLast updated 8/6/2026, 9:16:52 AMEditorial publication

Higgsfield’s festival page lists a $1 million prize pool and invites individuals or teams to submit short films across genres. The competition says it will focus on story, cinematic language, and whether a submission works as a film, rather than simply ranking prompts or models. Its submission workflow is designed to keep the project’s creative assets and production process visible.

Edwin Catmull is identified as a jury member. His links to Pixar, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and the Turing Award are supported by established public records. However, describing him as the person who “invented 3D graphics” is an overstatement, while the claims about five Oscars and his precise Toy Story credit should be checked against authoritative biographical sources.

ByteDance’s official Seedance materials describe improvements in video continuation, multimodal references, camera control, and localized editing. Separate media reports say that the 95-minute film HELL GRIND, made with Seedance 2.0, was screened at Cannes. The available evidence does not establish a conventional theatrical release, so the claim about the first fully AI-made cinema release remains unverified.

Source evidence 6

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Higgsfield Global Film Festival | $1000000 AI Film Contesthiggsfield.ai · supporting

5x Oscar winner. Ex-President of Walt Disney Animation Studios. Executive producer of Toy Story. Turing Award laureate. ### Edwin Catmull Pixar co-founder Edwin Catmull joins the Higgsfield Global Film Festival as a jury member. 5x Oscar winner. Ex-President of Walt Disney Animation Studios. Executive producer of Toy Story. Turing Award laureate. Photo credit: Deborah Coleman Next judge revealed Aug 4 OPEN SOURCED PROJECTS FROM HIGGSFIELD ## THE FIRST OPEN-SOURCE AI FILMS EVERY PROMPT, ASSET AND CANVAS INCLUDED HOW TO SUBMIT ## FOUR STEPS FROM IDEA TO AWARD 1. 1 ### Shape your idea, gather your crew A short film in any story, any genre · solo or with a team 2. 2 ### Create in Cinema Studio [...] ### Create in Cinema Studio Submission project opens Aug 7 - your whole film is born inside the submission project 3. 3 ### Submit your film Upload the final cut with watermark, then share it in a public post 4. 4 ### The judging begins Screening → Shor