LeleKai

INTERNATIONAL FEST · CANNES, 20AI

CANNES · FRANCE · MAY 2027 — HUMAN CREATIVITY × AI — OPEN CALL · 11 CREATIVE WORLDS — 20AI

Human creativity meets AI.

An international festival of new authorship across cinema, art, science and technology,made by people who work with AI and sign the result themselves.

OPEN CALL 1 SEPTEMBER – 15 NOVEMBER 2026

Eleven Creative Worlds. One finale in Cannes.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

LeleKai brings filmmakers, artists, musicians, scientists, educators and studios into one international programme. We built it for the authors who use AI and still put their name on the work.

We run across film, animation, music, design, science and education. Everywhere AI joins the creative process, the person stays in front of it.

Anyone can enter: students from 13, professionals, researchers and teams anywhere in the world. We judge the work and the thinking behind it, not the CV.

Cannes drew a line

On 9 April 2026, at the announcement of its Official Selection, the Festival de Cannes ruled that films where AI writes the script, generates the images or synthesises the performances cannot compete for the Palme d’Or. Technical AI stays allowed: restoration, clean-up, standard visual effects.

“A film is a personal vision, not an assembly of data.”

THE POSITION OF THE FESTIVAL DE CANNES, OFFICIAL SELECTION ANNOUNCEMENT,

9 APRIL 2026

What stays human when a machine can make images?

The author does. AI widens what one person can make. It does not choose, it does not doubt, and it does not answer for the result. You do.

Europe drew a line.

France, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom are rewriting how young people meet the digital world, and Australia has gone further than any of them. Different laws, one conclusion: a feed built to hold attention should not own it.

The screen is not the problem. The feed is, when it turns curiosity into habit and making into watching.

Choice. Responsibility. Taste. Meaning. LeleKai protects these four.

Show us an idea that could not have existed a year ago. Use AI at any stage, from the first sketch to the final cut. We weigh the strength of the idea, the quality of the craft, and what the finished work does to the person who meets it.

AI is the tool. You are the author

Directors
Artists
Musicians
Designers
Engineers
Researchers
Educators
Studios & Startups
Students 13+

LeleKai welcomes:

One principle: the jury scores your vision, never the amount of AI inside your project.

CREATIVE WORLDS

AI · CINEMA —

Cinema Beyond Frames

Hybrid and digital cinema for a new generation of storytelling.

AI · ANIMATION —

Infinite Worlds

Animation that builds characters and visual languages we have not seen before.

AI · ART —

Art Beyond Canvas

Generative painting, interactive works and augmented reality.

AI · IMPACT —

Technology for Humanity

Work in education, climate, inclusion and health. Technology that serves people.

AI · EDU —

Learning Reimagined

Teaching where AI opens what a learner can reach, and knowledge turns personal.

AI · BRANDS —

Ideas That Move Culture

A new generation of brands that tell a cultural story instead of an ad.

AI · OPEN —

Beyond Categories

AI · SCIENCE —

Invent Tomorrow

Scientific and engineering breakthroughs that change what comes next.

AI · FASHION —

Future Identity

Collections that exist in fabric and on screen at the same time.

AI · MUSIC —

Sound × Vision

Music and image built as one experience, past the format of a video or a show.

AI · GAMES —

Playable Universes

Games made as art and as inquiry, where the world answers you back.

Eleven Worlds. Pick the one your work lives in.

We count the vision, never the AI.
We look at the work, and at you.

Judging principles:
The author stays responsible for the work · Human and machine hold a real dialogue · The result earns its place culturally, scientifically or socially

Criteria:
Originality and artistic expression · Craft and innovation · Emotional force · Ethics and responsibility

INTERNATIONAL JURY

JURY

AI-Architect & Festival Director

Sets the vision of LeleKai and speaks for the festival to partners, institutions and media.

A core team runs the festival. A curator leads each of the eleven Worlds, with ambassadors in their own countries.

The people who run LeleKai

Creative Director

Owns the season’s artistic direction, visual identity and evaluation criteria.

TEAM

PR & Community Lead

Builds the festival’s community and runs the AI Creators Network.

The team is growing alongside the festival. Today, LeleKai is led by a compact team; as the program and partnerships expand, roles will be divided into more specialized areas: regional coordination, work with schools, and European grant programs.

Four steps, from idea to international stage.

01 — Choose the Creative World your project belongs to.

02 — Say in one line what your idea changes, and for whom.

03 — Show where the person stopped and the machine started.

04 — Send your entry through the LeleKai platform when the Open Call begins.

HOW TO APPLY

OPEN CALL · SUBMISSIONS

Entries: September 1 – November 15, 2026

Semi-final & finalist selection: December 2026 · Finale: Cannes, May 2027

The full competition terms, file formats, entry fees and rights are published before entries open.

LeleKai is an independent festival.

It is not affiliated with the Festival de Cannes.

AI-ШКОЛА

LeleKai AI School Club

International Club of AI Schools

At LeleKai AI School Club, new authors are born — and AI becomes their co-author.

LeleKai AI School Club is an international community of schools, courses, and educational centers that teach children to create with AI and speak its language.

The club is open to schools of general and supplementary education, private and associative schools, non-profit organizations, AI courses and academies — to anyone working with children and teenagers aged 6–18.

Что даёт членство:

LELEKAI AI SCHOOL ID — a personal school number in the club’s international registry. Educational Partner status of LeleKai International Fest, with the right to use the club’s mark. Access to the LeleKai AI ecosystem — seminars, materials, an expert community. An international network of like-minded schools worldwide. AI JUNIOR — students take part in the festival’s dedicated youth category in Cannes. LELEKAI GROWTH PATH — a step-by-step creative journey for the child, from their first AI work to a competition project in Cannes, built in line with the country’s education system, plus a cumulative methodological portfolio for the teacher guiding that journey. Understand → Create → Co-create This is how a young author grows — alongside AI, but always one step ahead of it. Stages of the path: AI Explorer (6–9) → AI Creator (10–12) → AI Author (13–15) → AI Future Creator (16–18). Membership is granted for one year, with a single annual fee.

Read membership terms and join the club

ПРИСОЕДИНЯЙТЕСЬ К НАМ

Получите эксклюзивный доступ к новостям с Международного фестиваля LeleKai. Узнайте, как человеческое творчество и искусственный интеллект меняют представление об искусстве в Каннах в 2027 году.

LELEKAI FEST

Submission Period:
September 1 – November 15, 2026

Semi-Finals & Finalist Selection:
December 2026

Final:
Cannes · May 2027