CRIANDO PONTES — Marina AI-Assisted Narrative Short Film

This excerpt is part of Criando Pontes, a short film built around four real stories of women living with HIV.

Because their identities needed to be protected, the challenge was to find a visual language that could preserve the emotional truth of their stories without exposing their image. With a limited production timeline and budget, I proposed an AI-assisted approach that allowed us to create characters, environments and cinematic scenes from scratch while keeping the real people behind the stories anonymous.

I initially joined the project as an editor, but my role quickly expanded into the full visual and creative development of the film. Working from the original stories and scripts, I handled the creative concept, narrative adaptation, visual direction, character and scene development, image generation, video generation, original AI-generated music, sound design, editing and final post-production.

For Marina’s story, the visual production was created using Nano Banana and Veo 3. At the time, Veo 3 was the strongest option available to us for the level of voice synchronization and performance the project required. I also created an original AI-generated soundtrack specifically for these scenes, shaping the music around the emotional rhythm and atmosphere of the story.

The tools have evolved significantly since the film was completed, but this project remains one of the clearest examples of how I approach AI filmmaking: the technology serves the story, not the other way around.

The entire visual production was executed by me, working alongside the project’s writer and producer.

Criando Pontes has since been screened at festivals and HIV-focused events, including a UNAIDS event in Rio de Janeiro in 2026. More importantly, the film continues to be used as an educational resource for young people and adults, helping create conversations around HIV through real human stories.

My role: Creative Direction, Narrative Adaptation, AI Filmmaking, Visual Development, Character & Scene Development, Image Generation, Video Generation, Original AI Music, Sound Design, Editing & Post-Production

Tools used: Nano Banana, Kling 2.5, Veo 3, Adobe Premiere Pro and Sunno AI.