Faces, voices and music in an AI entry
AI makes it easy to put a recognisable face or voice in a film, and festival rules have caught up. WAIFF USA asks for documented consent for every recognisable face and voice; the Academy counts acting roles only when humans perform them with consent. From 5 source pages, read 2026-09-25; no maker pays to be listed.
The African AI Film Festival and LTX's competition ask entrants to hold rights to everything in the film, likenesses and music included. Chroma's rules need full rights to grant its licence.
Music is the quiet risk. A generated track that imitates a known song can fail a rights check as surely as a copied one.
Keep consents and licences with the tool log, ready to send.
| Festival | Rule | What the rules say |
|---|---|---|
| World AI Film Festival USA | Rights | All material cleared; training data is not a substitute for rights clearance |
| African AI Film Festival | Rights | Entrants must own or have secured all rights, including outside assets, music and likenesses |
| AI Shortest Film Competition | Rights | Entrants must own or hold rights to everything in the film, and allow the festival to share and screen it |
| Chroma Awards | Rights | Entrants must hold full rights to grant the licence the rules require |
| Academy Awards | AI use | Acting roles count only when performed by humans with their consent |
Inclusion rule. Readings from the register cited on this page. Order. The order they are discussed in.
1The wording in the rules
Training-data provenance is not a substitute for rights clearance.
World AI Film Festival USA, home page
The entrant must own or have secured all rights to the work, including third-party assets, music, and likenesses.
African AI Film Festival, home page
Make sure you own or have the rights to everything in your film – including visuals, music, and AI-generated content.
Forward Festival, AI Shortest Film Competition by LTX
You must have the full rights to grant the license and other rights that you grant to ElevenLabs in Section 9 (Intellectual Property) below.
Chroma Awards, official rules on Devpost
only roles credited in the film’s legal billing and demonstrably performed by humans with their consent will be considered eligible.
Academy Press Office, 99th Oscars rules release
- Five rulesAll material cleared; training data is not a substitute for rights clearance
- EligibilityEntrants must own or have secured all rights, including outside assets, music and likenesses
- CopyrightEntrants must own or hold rights to everything in the film, and allow the festival to share and screen it
- Submission guidelinesEntrants must hold full rights to grant the licence the rules require
- Acting categoryActing roles count only when performed by humans with their consent
2The making side of an entry
For an entrant reading “Faces, voices and music in an AI entry”, this is what SceneMixer publishes about the film its pipeline hands over:
Every episode is scored for you once its first shot is generated; the music is written for the episode and mixed in under the voices.
SceneMixer, Background Music in an AI Short Drama: The Built-in Score — “Do I need to add music to my episode?” (read 2026-10-13)
Every ad gets its own music, written for that ad.
SceneMixer, Where the Music in an Ad Video Comes From (read 2026-10-13)