Ancestors

Ancestors.
Photo: Hanna Haaslahti / Fantomatico.

Ancestors was presented at
CineMart 2023 during the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Original title: Ancestors
Genre: XR Installation
Duration: appr. 30’
Script: Hanna Haaslahti
Original concept:
Hanna Haaslahti & Steye Hallema
Director: Hanna Haaslahti
Creative technologists:
Tyler Henry, Alap Parikh, Mike Robbins
Finance:
Development: YLE / Raimo Lång, AVEK Mediarata, AVEK / Milla Moilanen
Phase: In prototyping
Forums:
VRDays’ Immersive Tech Week Impulse 2022, IFFR Pro Immersive CineMart 2023, IDFA DocLab Forum 2023.
Premiere: Tampere Art Museum
Sept 27, 2025 – Jan 11, 2026
Distributor: Diversion Cinema
Producers:
Tuuli Penttinen-Lampisuo / Poike Productio (co-production, Finland), Raimo Lång / YLE (co-production, Finland), Harmke Heezen / High Road Stories (co-production, Germany), Jeanne-Marie Poulain / Art & Essai (co-production, Canada), Hanna Haaslahti / Fantomatico (executive, Finland).

Ancestors explores virtual reproduction with image generating technologies. Faces captured from audience members are paired to synthesize descendants, who establish families in a virtual community.

People follow together the evolution and the story of their virtual family genealogy. The narrative proposes to rethink how families are socially created, and what is our responsibility for future generations as good ancestors. Combining AI and narrative possibilities of real time 3D face capturing, Ancestors enables people to see their own faces mix and generate virtual families. Each Ancestors family tree will be a unique, one-time combination of the people participating.