Curious Refuge Workshops are 1-hour live sessions designed to give you deeper insight into industry workflows, cutting-edge tools, and real creator experiences.
What separates an AI film that genuinely works from one that just looks "cinematic"? In this workshop, award-winning director and AI filmmaker Marcello Costa starts where most people go wrong — breaking down why so many AI images fall flat — before making the case that great AI filmmaking is 10% AI and 90% filmmaking. Drawing on 13+ years in advertising and filmmaking and his run as 2025 AI Filmmaker of the Year, Marcello digs into the heart of the workshop: how prompting and filmmaking intention interweave, and why knowing what you actually want matters more than any clever prompt. Using his haunting short film “Villages” — a meditation on memory, abandonment, and a life left behind, seen through the eyes of a woman who chose to stay when everything else was gone — he walks through the real craft behind the work, from blocking and focal length to light and framing, all grounded in practical AI filmmaking. You'll leave with a sharper creative eye, a clearer sense of intention, and a set of resources to keep learning long after the session ends.
Marcello Costa is an award-winning film director and AI filmmaker with over 13 years of experience spanning advertising, animation, and live-action production. He began as an art director at world-leading agencies including AlmapBBDO and R/GA — earning a Silver Lion at Cannes — before moving into directing and building Studio Costa into a leading name in director's treatment and creative development. In 2025 he turned to AI filmmaking and quickly became one of its most prominent voices: his short film Instinct went viral and won awards in Venice and Bali, earning him AI Filmmaker of the Year at the AI Design Awards. That same year he directed the first fully AI-generated commercials for Deloitte Ireland and Lexus Italy, along with the pilot episode of 1776 for Darren Aronofsky's AI production company Primordial Soup. Now a partner at Misideal, one of Europe's leading AI production companies, Marcello joins us to break down his project “Villages”.
*This event is exclusively available to Curious Refuge students and members. Active course enrollment or membership is required to attend.