AI powered surrealism defines Mathery’s new short A Feather and a Prayer
The latest short film by 1stAveMachine directing duo Mathery, A Feather and a Prayer, redefines the boundaries of filmmaking by integrating generative AI as a core creative partner.
Set in a whimsical, alternate reality where pigeon bikinis dominate beachwear fashion, the surreal comedy captures a chaotic phone call between a distressed customer and a lethargic customer service agent.
The absurdity of a missing pigeon from a live-bird bikini exemplifies the film’s intentional detachment from realism, creating a world where logic takes a back seat to sensation and satire.
Crafted almost entirely through AI tools, the film’s development process was as unconventional as its storyline. The directing pair—Italian-born and now based in both Brooklyn and Milan, leaned on cutting-edge platforms such as Runway and Midjourney to generate visual content and script ideas.
From the first conceptual image to the final character movements and narration, artificial intelligence was used not just as a tool, but as a collaborative element of the storytelling process.
Tools like Runway’s Gen-3 Alpha Turbo and Act-One provided real-time video generation and expressive character animations, while AI-generated audio gave voice to the film’s omniscient narrator.
Only the film’s sound design, overlaid graphics, titles, and musical score were completed through traditional methods, preserving a thread of human touch within an otherwise synthetic tapestry.
This hybrid approach positions A Feather and a Prayer as a landmark example of AI-assisted cinema, not merely as a technical achievement but as a thematic commentary on the increasingly blurred lines between man and machine.
The film’s distinctive style is reminiscent of 1970s and 1980s aesthetics, saturated with rich color palettes and set in kitschy environments that evoke both nostalgia and unease.
Mathery’s hallmark combination of visual irony and deadpan humor remains front and center, particularly through the voice performance of the disinterested customer service agent Lola LeClair.
Her nonchalance stands in stark contrast to the increasingly frantic customer, culminating in a bizarre twist where the rogue pigeon becomes aggressively sentient.
Rather than viewing AI as a threat to originality, Mathery embraced it as a means to reimagine creative storytelling. According to Erika Zorzi, the use of AI allowed them to explore themes of absurdity and social satire in ways that might be impossible with conventional production methods.
The result is a vivid, self-aware film that is both a critique and celebration of modern technological absurdity. A Feather and a Prayer serves as a provocative case study for what filmmaking might become when machines are co-creators of dreams.
All images courtesy of Mathery
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