Written, directed and edited by Vincenzo Lo Re
Honorable Mention
Rome Ai Festival 2026
Official Selection
World AI Movie Festival 2026
Official Selection
BARCIFF - Barcelona 2026
Official Selection
FIVE CONTINENTS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2026
Official Selection
AI Movie Awards - London 2026
Official Selection
MORPHÉ Film Festival - Kropyvnytskiy 2027
Official Selection
AI ZONE International AI Film Festival 2027
Official Selection
Ai Short Film Festival LARISSA LUMINA 2026
Official Selection
AI Film Festival Japan - Tokyo 2026
Official Selection
Almamoura Festival - Abu Dhabi 2026
Official Selection
Higgsfield Global Film Festival 2026
Best Ai Film
Oniros Film Festival - New York 2026
Honorable Mention
Rome Ai Festival 2026
Official Selection
World AI Movie Festival 2026
Official Selection
BARCIFF - Barcelona 2026
Official Selection
FIVE CONTINENTS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2026
Official Selection
AI Movie Awards - London 2026
Official Selection
MORPHÉ Film Festival - Kropyvnytskiy 2027
Official Selection
AI ZONE International AI Film Festival 2027
Official Selection
Ai Short Film Festival LARISSA LUMINA 2026
Official Selection
AI Film Festival Japan - Tokyo 2026
Official Selection
Almamoura Festival - Abu Dhabi 2026
Official Selection
Higgsfield Global Film Festival 2026
Best Ai Film
Oniros Film Festival - New York 2026
Follow the production
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I. The trovatura
A treasure
is never simply
found.
In rural Sicily, the discovery of a hidden treasure awakens an old bargain between faith, superstition and the Devil, turning a forgotten folk belief into a dark, vaguely miraculous western.
According to Sicilian folklore, a trovatura may be guarded by supernatural beings, sometimes described as Devils or Mercanti, and whatever protects the treasure may demand something in return.
A small folk tale about faith, superstition, grief, sacrifice and greed.
II. Evidence
III. Director's statement
“The horror is the sacred taken to its literal, terrible conclusion.”
In Sicily there is a word for a buried treasure that cannot be taken without paying: trovatura. It is guarded by spirits, and the price is never money. I grew up with these stories, and with the walls of anatomical ex votos — silver eyes, hands, legs — left in churches by people who had asked for a grace and received it.
This film is built entirely out of those two objects: a thing found in the ground, and a thing offered on a wall. There is no dialogue, because in the world of an ex voto nothing is explained: you see the wound, you see the silver copy of the wound, and you understand the exchange.
I wanted a devil who does not tempt with power but with ordinary things — a full table, a toy town — and who is impeccable, courteous and never dirty. And I wanted the answer to him to be equally material: a woman who gives an eye and sews a body out of the clothes of the dead.
The film was made with generative tools, but not by them. Every frame was directed: lens, light, blocking, continuity. The technology gave a small Sicilian company access to a scale of production it could not otherwise afford. It did not give it a point of view.
— Vincenzo Lo Re
IV. The screening
The film. In full.
13′56″ — 2026
THE FINDING was created entirely with AI: no live-action footage was shot, no traditional production took place, and the music was also generated with AI. Every frame was created specifically for this story.
V. For those who make cinema
Not “cinema with AI.” A production, documented.
What follows the film is the work behind it — the creative decisions, the generative workflow, the VFX, the edit. Not a manifesto, but a record of what was chosen, what held, and what didn't.
Creative choices
No dialogue, two objects
The film is built on a trovatura and an ex voto. Nothing is explained, because in the world of an ex voto nothing needs to be. That single decision shaped every frame that followed.
AI workflow
Directed, not generated
Every shot was blocked: lens, light, continuity. The model proposed, the director chose. The tool gave a small Sicilian company access to a scale of production it could not otherwise afford — it did not give it a point of view.
VFX
Continuity is the limit
Generative frames drift. A face, a hand, a shadowline shifts between cuts. The work was not adding effects but removing the drift — holding the world stable across thirteen minutes.
Edit & post
Cut to the exchange
No dialogue means the cut carries the story. The edit was built around the exchange — wound for silver, table for soul — and the sound design fills what the image refuses to say.
VI. The director
VINCENZO
LO RE
A single thread runs through everything he makes: using technology to make invisible things visible.
Vincenzo Lo Re, who works as Enzo Lo Re, is an Italian director and creative technologist based in Sicily. His practice moves between illustration, motion design, 3D and real-time art, multimedia museum installations and XR for cultural heritage.
He is the founder of Neolithic Evolution, a studio working on immersive media and custom software, and teaches interactive systems and XR at the Academy of Fine Arts in Catania, having previously taught at Accademia Cappiello in Florence.
His work has been produced for Sky, Rai, HBO, IKEA, Volkswagen and Juventus, and recognised by Communication Arts Annual and the 3x3 International Illustration Show; his short film The Run received a first prize.
VII. Credits
A Sicilian legend that became a B‑movie western.
VIII. Festivals & awards
Recognitions
Honorable Mention
Rome Ai Festival
2026
Official Selection
World AI Movie Festival
2026
Official Selection
BARCIFF - Barcelona
2026
Official Selection
FIVE CONTINENTS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
2026
Official Selection
AI Movie Awards - London
2026
Official Selection
MORPHÉ Film Festival - Kropyvnytskiy
2027
Official Selection
AI ZONE International AI Film Festival
2027
Official Selection
Ai Short Film Festival LARISSA LUMINA
2026
Official Selection
AI Film Festival Japan - Tokyo
2026
Official Selection
Almamoura Festival - Abu Dhabi
2026
Official Selection
Higgsfield Global Film Festival
2026
Best Ai Film
Oniros Film Festival - New York
2026
Contact
Get in touch.
For collaborations, screenings, or questions about the production.