ANCESTRA
Film / AI

Art Direction
Gen AI
Animation

Ancestra by Eliza Mcnitt

During an emergency delivery, an expectant mother channels the strength of those who came before—past matriarchs to dying stars—turning her love into a cosmic force to save her daughter’s life.

Written and directed by Eliza McNitt, ANCESTRA transforms family archives and her mother’s memory into a visually stunning narrative inspired by the day she was born.

Brought to life through live-action filmmaking and the craftsmanship of over 200 filmmakers and artists, ANCESTRA pushes cinematic storytelling to new limits, weaving ancestral memory into the fabric of the universe.

ANCESTRA is the first of three films from Primordial Soup, a storytelling innovation venture founded by Darren Aronofsky. In collaboration with Google DeepMind, these films show how generative tools can be shaped by artists to expand creativity rather than replace it.

Behind Ancestra

For an in-depth look at how Ancestra was made read more here.
Credits
Year: 2025

Client: Primordial Soup x Google Deep Mind

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Core Google Creative Team

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Writter/Director: Eliza McNitt

Exec Producer: Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel, Demis Hassabis, Mattieu Kim Lorrain, Neil Parris, Robert Wong

Editor: Eric Harnden

Director of Photography: Minka Farthing-Kohl

Creative Directors: Ben Wiley, John Soat, JR Schmidt

Producers: Habibatou Magassa, Jay Chen

Technologists: Anthony Tripaldi, Kory Mathewson, Matthew Smith, Rikard Lindstrom, Michael Chang

VFX Supervisor: Aaron Raff

Artist: Ben Wiley, Brien Hopkins, Donica Ida, Eleni Shaw, Gregory Shaw, John Soat, JR Schmidt, Lucas Hearl, Martin Nebelong, Matthew Carey, Matthieu Kim Lorrain, Sanchit Sawaria, Shu-Yu Hsiao, Signe Nørly, Tom Healey

Animation: JR Schmidt, Brien Hopkins, Lucas Hearl

VFX Artists: Arture Elson, Daniel Novarro, Joseph Brigati, Nick Crist

Sound: Q Department

View additional credits

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