AEOLUS

10’30”

In 2022 a film production shoots a movie in Stromboli, an isle in Sicily (Italy). For one scene special effects light a fire on the mountain. The wind fueled the flames and 49 percent of the entire vegetation burned. To date, no one has compensated the island and its inhabitants.

This film was made entirely with video games and artificial intelligence. The use of these mediums meets a need: that of telling memories that have been lost. Many of the images recounting the fire of 2022 are, in fact, in the hands of the court. I felt the urgency to tell the memories of my friends who lost their homes and hundreds of acres of their ancestors’ centuries-old olive trees. So I started from their stories, their voices, trying to illustrate them by being as didactic as possible. The use of video gaming allowed me to manipulate nature by setting it on fire, creating small and large fires in Red Dead Redemption 2. Artificial intelligence, on the other hand, interested me in a singular aspect: the more seconds one generates, on Runaway, the more the image distances itself from reality (from the zero point). In my project, I had the intent to build a backward path from pure mise-en-scene, fiction (why the fire started), to bare-bones reality in showing her the irreversible damage done to the inhabitants and the island.

A film by Niccolò Donatini.

With the voice of

Renzo Zaia
Manuel Oliva
Maria Migliaccio
Paola Mastrocola
Ferdinando Scognamiglio

with the images of Sebastiano Cannavò
and the partecipation of Angelo Cristaudo
shooted with Red Dead Redemption 2 and Runway.
music of Yehezkel Raz – “When the Sunrise”.

I was selected among 26 participants from around the world to make a film through the use of video games and artificial intelligence to discover the new frontiers of contemporary cinema. My interest was directed, early on, in creating a form of experimental documentary filmmaking. The film is currently in its distribution phase and intends to participate in film festivals interested in new uses of digital media.

World Premiere and honorable mention at 21th SediciCorto Film Festival (2024)