Ordain Round 1: Five Commissions for AI Short Films ($100 to $1,000)

Ordain is a commission board for short films. Five founding commissioners have posted bounties for specific films they want to see made. Creators submit finished work. Winners are chosen by a split vote between the commissioner and the other submitting creators. Payment is instant over Bitcoin Lightning. Creators retain full copyright.

Round 1 is open now through March 23, 2026. Five commissions, five briefs, bounties from $100 to $1,000:

First Sorrow ($250): Adapt Franz Kafka's "First Sorrow." Favor spirit over letter.

The President's Face ($100): Lillian Brown did the makeup for nine U.S. presidents. She died in 2020 at 106. Make a film about her. One continuous makeup application. The face in the chair keeps changing, but her hands never stop.

Proof of Energy ($500): Visualize how wasted energy, captured methane from a city landfill, gets combusted, converted to electricity, and used to mine Bitcoin. From waste to wallet. Colorful, vibrant, accurate.

What Is It Like to Be an AI? ($750): In 1974, Thomas Nagel argued we can never know what it's like to be a bat. Now millions of people talk to AIs every day. Make a film that attempts an answer. Not from the outside. From the inside.

After the Reactor ($1,000): The world nuclear energy makes possible. Not the reactor. Not the debate. The world on the other side, where 666 million people have electricity for the first time.

Any format: AI generated, live action, animation, hybrid, experimental. Any tools. Any country. Five minutes or less. Read the full briefs and submit at ordain.art.