Want to Remix a 1931 Classic? The Internet Archive Is Holding a Public Domain Film Contest, and Here’s How to Enter
The Internet Archive’s 2027 Public Domain Film Contest pays up to $2,000 for four-minute films that remix 1931 works. Rules, prizes and the Jan 7 deadline.
The Internet Archive has opened its 2027 Public Domain Film Contest, with up to $2,000 for the top film.
Entries can run up to four minutes. Each one has to use at least one work from 1931 that enters the U.S. public domain on Jan 1, 2027.
The deadline is 11:59 pm PST on Jan 7, 2027, which is about eight weeks away.
What You Can Use From 1931
The Internet Archive’s announcement names several 1931 works that become free to use on Jan 1.
- Films: Frankenstein, Dracula, City Lights, Monkey Business, M, Safe in Hell and the cartoon The Moose Hunt
- Books: Sanctuary by William Faulkner, The Good Earth by Pearl Buck, the first edition of The Joy of Cooking, The Waves by Virginia Woolf and early The Shadow Magazine volumes
- Music: “All of Me,” “Mood Indigo,” “Minnie the Moocher,” “Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams” and an early version of “As Time Goes By”
Music has a catch. Compositions from 1931 enter the public domain, but recordings of them do not.
Sound recordings from 1926 do enter the public domain this year, including recordings by Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five.
Materials from 1931 that aren’t on archive.org can be uploaded and then used in your film.
The Rules
A film must run four minutes or less and needs a soundtrack. That can be your own voiceover or performance, or public domain or CC0 recordings.
All source material must be public domain. Works from before 1931 and U.S. government works, such as NASA images, are allowed.
Your own original material can be included if you release it under CC0.
Films must be human-made. If you use AI tools, you have to explain how.
How to Enter
- Create an Internet Archive account.
- Upload your film to archive.org, add the subject tag “remix contest 2027” and list every source from 1931 or earlier in the description.
- Copy the upload URL and submit it through the contest’s online form.
The announcement mentions no entry fee. It also doesn’t name the judges or say whether age or location limits apply.
Prizes and Key Dates
First place wins $2,000, second place $1,500 and third place $1,000. Honorable mentions get $250 each.
The Internet Archive buys the winning films with the prize money and shows them on its site under a Creative Commons license.
Winners are announced at a virtual event and celebrated at the in-person Public Domain Day party in San Francisco on Jan 27, 2027. All submissions will appear in a Public Domain Day collection on archive.org.
Competitive Context
This is not the first contest, and the 2027 edition is bigger than the last one.
The 2026 contest focused on works from 1930. Films ran two to three minutes, and prizes were $1,500, $1,000 and $500. The 2027 contest allows up to four minutes and raises the prizes to $2,000, $1,500 and $1,000.
The 2025 contest drew more than 140 submissions, according to the Internet Archive’s winners announcement. The 2026 contest drew about 270 to 280, which NPR reported as the most since the contest launched.
The 2026 winner was Rhapsody, Reimagined by Seattle filmmaker Andrea Hale, a roughly two-minute film built from King of Jazz (1930) and scored with composer Greg Hardgrave. Hale released it under a Creative Commons license.
Other 2026 entries remixed The Blue Angel with Betty Boop and adapted the Nancy Drew book The Mystery at Lilac Inn with AI tools.
Past entries are public, so you can watch the 2026 field in the contest’s collection before you start.
The Signal in the Noise
The contest rewards a specific kind of film. Judges look for work that is fun and interesting and that makes use of public domain material, especially from 1931, according to the announcement.
The rules put the burden on you to document sources. Every 1931 work has to be listed in the upload description.
The music rule is the easiest one to get wrong. A 1931 song can be used, but a 1931 recording of it generally can’t. Use a public domain or CC0 recording, or perform it yourself.
Public domain status also doesn’t cover your whole film. Duke Law’s Jennifer Jenkins told NPR that remixers hold copyright in their own contributions but not the underlying material. U.S. copyright law also doesn’t recognize works authored by AI.
If you plan to use more than public domain footage, the contest’s rules are the place to start. Our guide to Claude, the Internet Archive and music rights covers how rights work with archive material.
Specs & Pricing
- Length: up to four minutes
- Required: at least one 1931 work, a soundtrack and a human-made film, with any AI use explained
- Deadline: 11:59 pm PST, Jan 7, 2027
- Prizes: $2,000 for first, $1,500 for second, $1,000 for third and $250 for each honorable mention
- Submission: upload to archive.org with the subject tag “remix contest 2027,” then use the online form
- Results: a virtual event and the Public Domain Day party in San Francisco on Jan 27, 2027
Winning a contest can help when you submit films elsewhere. Our guide to festival submissions covers where short films go next.
Which 1931 work would you remix first?
