🎞 ANCESTRA: A Film by Darren Aronofsky's Studio, Created with Google Veo
ANCESTRA is the first collaboration between Primordial Soup, the studio founded by Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky, and Google DeepMind. The film premiered at the Tribeca Festival on June 13.
Director Eliza McNitt turned the story of her own birth into a cinematic AI experiment. When her pregnant mother came in for a routine check-up, doctors discovered a hole in Eliza's heart. An emergency operation was the only way to save her life.
🎬 How Was It Made?
The film blends live-action with AI-generated visuals for scenes that are otherwise impossible to shoot. For example, Gemini analyzed photos from McNitt's childhood and produced a detailed prompt, which Imagen then used to generate a realistic newborn photo. That image was animated using Veo. The AI also helped create detailed transitions and surreal visual effects.
"Veo is another lens through which I get to imagine the universe around me," McNitt says.
More than 200 people contributed to the making of the film.
📺 What's Next?
ANCESTRA is the first in a series of three AI-driven films developed through the DeepMind–Primordial Soup partnership.
Google DeepMind provides early access to its latest generative tools. At the same time, filmmakers put them to the test in real creative production.
📱 Watch the full film here.
