Grandmère

Inspiration

Grandmère was inspired by my own childhood memories, my grandmother’s house, and the small “ghosts” of imagination that shaped me, and that quietly disappeared as I grew older.

What it does

The film blends real Super 8 footage with AI-generated imagery to explore the loss of innocence, the loneliness of adulthood, and the rediscovery of creativity. It visualizes how imagination can fade and how it can return.

How I built it

I combined digitized Super 8 material from my childhood with fully AI-generated scenes. Using Google Veo 3 and Gemini, I extended real memories into fantastical moments, recreated my grandmother, and built a visual world where childhood ghosts reappear. However, the Super 8 footage is only about one minute in length, so the majority of the film is AI-generated (approximately 85%).

Challenges I ran into

Balancing nostalgia and fantasy without losing authenticity was difficult. Recreating emotional truth with AI required careful prompting, iteration, and restraint

Accomplishments that I am proud of

The film transforms private memories into a universal emotional story. I’m proud of how seamlessly the real and the generated worlds merge, and of bringing my grandmother back into the narrative with tenderness and respect.

What I learned

AI can deepen personal storytelling when used thoughtfully. I learned how to shape memory into narrative, how to guide generative tools visually, and how to preserve emotional honesty while working with synthetic imagery.

What’s next for Grandmère

I hope many people can connect to the film’s vision, and maybe rediscover a spark of their own imagination.

Built With

• elevenlabs
• gemini
• suno
• veo3