FRANCESCA FINI

( Italy – Itália)

FRANCESCA FINI - is an interdisciplinary artist, experimental filmmaker, and performer whose practice thrives on the friction between tradition and innovation. Moving fluidly across cinema, live media performance, installation, and artificial intelligence, she constructs poetic, surreal, and often unsettling narratives that question the boundaries between body, technology, and identity.

Over the years, Fini's work has been presented at major international venues and festivals including the WRO Biennale (Poland), CINEMED Film Festival (Montpellier), NordArt International Art Exhibition (Germany), Berlin Directors Lounge and IKONO TV Film Festival (Germany), Videoformes Festival (Clermont-Ferrand), Szczecin European Film Festival – SEFF (Poland), FILE Electronic Language Festival (Brazil), Athens Videoart Festival, Proyector Festival (Madrid), CYBERFEST and Now&After (Russia), Robot Festival (Bologna), Instants Video numériques et poétiques (Marseille), MANIFESTA12 collateral events (Palermo), IMAGE PLAY, MEM Festival at the Guggenheim Bilbao, BODY + CAMERA at MANA Contemporary Chicago, Un-Becoming at SomoS Berlin, the Japan Media Arts Festival (Tokyo), the Margaret Guthman Musical Instrument Competition (Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta), as well as MAXXI and MACRO in Rome.

She has held notable solo exhibitions including BODY (S)CUL(P)TURE at Fondazione Dino Zoli (Forlì), My Name is Francesca (online, 2020), Other Identity Biennale (Genoa, 2019), Cyborg Fatale at Narkissos Gallery (Bologna, 2019), and RED (Rome, 2018). Her work has also been shown at The Arts House (Singapore), Palazzo Merulana and Galleria d'Arte Moderna (Rome), Photopia Festival (Hamburg), FILE Festival (São Paulo), Palazzo delle Esposizioni (Rome), and in the Takeda Italia Metaverse project.

As a performer, she took part in the landmark first edition of the Venice International Performance Art Week, alongside Valie Export, Yoko Ono, Jan Fabre, Marina Abramović, and Hermann Nitsch. She has been an artist-in-residence at Robert Wilson's Watermill Center (New York, 2014 and 2016) and at Rocca Sinibalda Castle (Italy, 2022).

1-1S  HELLO WORLD - ENTROPY  - Francesca Fini   1ª SESSÃO | 1st SESSION

IMAGE PLAY ► International Video Art Festival - VII Edition 2025 (Funchal, Madeira - Portugal)

CREDITS:

Francesca Fini  Director / Creator

Francesca Fini  Writer / Concept

Francesca Fini Editing / Post-Production

Francesca Fini Sound Design / Music

AI Tools & Software Used: MidJourney, Leonardo AI, Runway, Luma, Kling, ElevenLabs 

SYNOPSIS:

In 2035, humanity forged the perfect Artificial Intelligence… and vanished.All that remains now is silence, rubble… and a question no one dared to answer.Welcome to Episode 2 of HELLO WORLD — an original, AI-generated dystopian sci-fi series.A humanoid robot awakens beneath the debris of a forgotten world. His memory fractured, his purpose unclear. Guided only by a broken holographic map and a cryptic mission embedded deep in his core, he roams the ruins of human civilization in search of something... or someone.What was humanity's final question? And what if the answer could change the fate of the entire planet?

In this second chapter, "Entropy," we venture even deeper into the desolate city. Amid the ruins and silence, a secret life emerges—one made of mechanical gestures and reflected memory. These are the robots, once devoted to assisting humanity in its daily routines, now reduced to sentient shadows, wandering aimlessly through gutted apartments, broken rooftops, and forgotten alleyways. With no purpose left, they repeat lost gestures like a ritual drained of meaning. Yet in their hesitant movement, they offer us—for a fleeting moment—a glimpse into our own fate: an artificial echo of what we once were, and perhaps, what we may one day become.

       TÍTULO - TITLE              DURAÇÃO - TIME           ANO - YEAR           PAÍS - COUNTRY              FORMATO - FORMAT

              PARADISE LOST                       6'25''                           2022                   ( Italy – Itália)                                16:9                                                                                                                  

6-1S PARADISE LOST  - Francesca Fini   1ª SESSÃO | 1st SESSION

IMAGE PLAY ► International Video Art Festival - VII Edition 2025 (Funchal, Madeira - Portugal)

CREDITS:

Francesca Fini Director / Creator

Francesca Fini Writer / Concept

Francesca Fini 3D Modeling and Animation

Francesca Fini Editing / Post-Production

Francesca Fini Sound Design / Music

AI Tools & Software Used: Blender, Photoshop, Da Vinci Resolve 

SYNOPSIS:

An alien creature wanders in a dreamlike and mysterious landscape that seems on the verge of collapsing at the first breath of wind. This film was born from the artist's desire to tell a recurring dream. In this dream, the unpleasant sensation of falling into the void - which we have all experienced at least once - fades into the feeling of precariousness and uncertainty characterizing our times. From the pandemic to the war in Ukraine, current events seem to mark a kind of countdown to nowhere. This alienating and dreamlike scenario is inhabited by strange and fantastic creatures who seem entrusted with the task of preserving the very essence of our animal nature. 

                  TÍTULO - TITLE                    DURAÇÃO - TIME             ANO - YEAR                   PAÍS - COUNTRY              FORMATO - FORMAT

                 PAPER WORLD                                3'53"                             2025                              (Italy – Itália )                                 16:9                                                                                                                            

11-1S PAPER WORLD - Francesca Fini  1ª SESSÃO | 1st SESSION

IMAGE PLAY ► International Video Art Festival - VII Edition 2025 (Funchal, Madeira - Portugal)

CREDITS:

Francesca Fini  Director / Creator

Francesca Fini  Writer / Concept

Francesca Fini  Cinematography / Visual Design

Francesca Fini  Editing / Post-Production

Francesca Fini  Sound Design / Music

AI Tools & Software Used: MidJourney, Leonardo AI, Veo 3.1, LumaRAY3, Kling, ElevenLabs

SYNOPSIS:

Paper World unfolds within a tiny, fragile universe sculpted entirely from the lost love letters of humankind — torn confessions, unfinished poems, and whispered dreams, reborn as architecture and life itself. This delicate realm lives inside a shoebox, under the gentle watch of an angel dressed in paper and ink.

Within its folds, whimsical creatures made of scribbles and folded sheets go about their daily routines — cooking, wandering, dreaming — their bodies and clothes woven from words once written for love. Every heartbeat of this paper civilization echoes the tenderness, longing, and beauty of the human emotions that created it.

             TÍTULO - TITLE                  DURAÇÃO - TIME               ANO - YEAR                  PAÍS - COUNTRY                 FORMATO - FORMAT

2-2S BINARY BLUES - Francesca Fini  2ª SESSÃO | 2nd SESSION

IMAGE PLAY ► International Video Art Festival - VII Edition 2025 (Funchal, Madeira - Portugal)

CREDITS:

Francesca Fini Director / Creator

Francesca Fini Writer / Concept

Francesca Fini 3D Modeling and Animation

Francesca Fini Editing / Post-Production

Francesca Fini Sound Design / Music

AI Tools & Software Used: Blender, Photoshop, MidJourney, Leonardo AI, Runway, Da Vinci Resolve. 

SYNOPSIS:

In this video I imagine a near-future where robots have taken control over every aspect of our lives, handling everything from the mundane to the complex. As a result, humans find themselves with an unexpected surplus of leisure time. In this video, I invite you to contemplate the intriguing paradox of monotony within a seemingly flawless world, all portrayed through the lens of vintage cinema. The video mixes different animation techniques and aesthetic codes, from traditional 3D to Artificial Intelligence, along with the crackling nostalgia of film grain, transitioning seamlessly into a black-and-white panorama reminiscent of early cinematic masterpieces. This vintage visual motif adds an undercurrent of nostalgia and allure to the futuristic concept at hand. As the scenes gradually unfold, the grainy texturing occasionally yields the emergence of 3D sketches, providing a unique peek into the inner mechanisms and intricacies of these robotic entities. 

                   TÍTULO - TITLE                    DURAÇÃO - TIME              ANO - YEAR                 PAÍS - COUNTRY                 FORMATO - FORMAT

                   THE 2225 RACE                               8'44''                               2024                          (Italy – Itália)                                    16:9          

6-2S THE 2225 RACE - Francesca Fini 2ª SESSÃO | 2nd SESSION

IMAGE PLAY ► International Video Art Festival - VII Edition 2025 (Funchal, Madeira - Portugal)

CREDITS:

Francesca Fini Director / Creator

Francesca Fini Writer / Concept

Francesca Fini Editing / Post-Production

Francesca Fini Sound Design / Music

AI Tools & Software Used: MidJourney, Leonardo AI, LTX Studio, Luma, Runway

SYNOPSIS:

It is the year 2225. Humanity has long since abandoned Earth, migrating to a new planet and leaving behind the androids who had faithfully served them for centuries. These androids, though self-sufficient and self-sustaining, lack free will. With no human orders to obey, they have lost their purpose, slipping into an eternal slumber to shield themselves from the harsh reality of their newfound irrelevance. Yet, one android, Lira, seems to follow a secret path of her own. As she wanders through a crumbling, deserted Singapore, she uncovers the truth about her creators: they didn't merely leave—they fled, abandoning the androids in their wake. Something stirs within Lira's circuits. Is it sadness? Nostalgia? Resentment? Whatever it is, it compels her to explore the empty city, searching for answers. Upon reaching the desolate, silent F1 circuit, Lira makes a choice. She enters the hydrogen power plant that once fueled the city but has been dormant for a century. Using a fragment of her indomitable energy core, she reignites the city's power. The circuit and the skyline flicker back to 

                   TÍTULO - TITLE                    DURAÇÃO - TIME              ANO - YEAR                 PAÍS - COUNTRY                 FORMATO - FORMAT

               A DREAM IN STONE                            14'47''                               2024                         (Italy – Itália)                                    16:9          

9-2S A DREAM IN STONE - Francesca Fini 2ª SESSÃO | 2nd SESSION

IMAGE PLAY ► International Video Art Festival - VII Edition 2025 (Funchal, Madeira - Portugal)

CREDITS:

Francesca Fini Director / Creator

Francesca Fini Writer / Concept

Francesca Fini 3D Modeling and Animation:

Francesca Fini Editing / Post-Production

Francesca Fini Sound Design / Music

AI Tools & Software Used: Blender, Photoshop, Da Vinci Resolve

SYNOPSIS:

An avant-garde yet Renaissance architectural achievement in its own right, the Rocca Sinibalda Castle has always hosted over the centuries highly innovative artists, architects, saints, writers, poets, performers, film makers, utopians, and patrons of the arts. Spearheading modernity, the Castle has now turned digital. The four editions of its art residency and festival Endecameron have been steering towards digital art. The video is inspired by a key SciFi theme, Earth after the vanishing of humanity. 

The Rocca Sinibalda Castle stands out as an intact and silent survivor to the catastrophic reversals of History. Still there to testify what we were and open a chasm into a maybe future. The frescoes become a relic, carefully preserved inside the womb of futuristic, self-sustainable and self-powered devices, which keep functioning unaware of their surrounding void and of the disappearance of their makers. The Castle as an Ark, a densely written stele that merges with the rock and crosses time, transforming it and self-transforming.

                   TÍTULO - TITLE                    DURAÇÃO - TIME              ANO - YEAR                 PAÍS - COUNTRY                 FORMATO - FORMAT

        TU SEI QUI (YOU ARE HERE)                     6'04''                              2023                           (Italy – Itália)                                    16:9          

11-2S TU SEI QUI (YOU ARE HERE) - Francesca Fini 2ª SESSÃO | 2nd SESSION

IMAGE PLAY ► International Video Art Festival - VII Edition 2025 (Funchal, Madeira - Portugal)

CREDITS:

Francesca Fini Director / Creator

Francesca Fini Writer / Concept

Francesca Fini 3D Modeling and Animation:

Francesca Fini Editing / Post-Production

Francesca Fini Sound Design / Music

AI Tools & Software Used: Blender, Photogrammetry, Da Vinci Resolve

SYNOPSIS:

"YOU ARE HERE" is an artistic installation that explores the convergence of technology, art, and architecture. Using the advanced technology of Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF), the installation seeks to capture and reinterpret my daily experience within the architecture studio where I spend my long days, a place where creativity and structure blend into a continuous flow. 

The installation is based on the capture of Radiance Fields through neural networks, a process that paradoxically brings real-world scanning closer to the practices of impressionist painting. Just as the impressionists sought to capture light and color rather than the physical form of objects, "YOU ARE HERE" seeks to capture the very light that informs the space of everyday life, transforming it into an artistic experience. 

The result is not a simple mesh or geometry, as in the traditional photogrammetry process I have long experimented with, but rather a point cloud of light and color. This cloud of points is then reprocessed and altered by me in 3D, transforming the precise and impeccable digital recording of the volumes of the physical world offered by NeRF technology into a dreamlike journey. 

The installation represents my attempt to push the limits of NeRF technology, leveraging its precision to create not an accurate representation of the physical world, but an artistic and subjective reinterpretation of it. A journey through light, an experience that challenges our perceptions of the real world and invites us to see beyond the surface of things.

                   TÍTULO - TITLE                    DURAÇÃO - TIME              ANO - YEAR                 PAÍS - COUNTRY                 FORMATO - FORMAT

                 SOMNIUM CORVI                              5'29''                              2025                           (Italy – Itália)                                    16:9          

13-2S SOMNIUM CORVI - Francesca Fini  2ª SESSÃO | 2nd SESSION

IMAGE PLAY ► International Video Art Festival - VII Edition 2025 (Funchal, Madeira - Portugal)

CREDITS:

Francesca Fini  Director / Creator

Francesca Fini   Writer / Concept

Francesca Fini  Editing / Post-Production

Francesca Fini  Sound Design / Music

AI Tools & Software Used: MidJourney, Leonardo AI, Veo 3.1, LumaRAY3, Kling, ElevenLabs 

SYNOPSIS:

Somnium Corvi is a dreamlike meditation on space, performance, and the power of AI-driven imagination—where surreal cinema meets digital live art. 

The work was created through a method I call Vibe Prompting—a contemporary evolution of the Exquisite Corpse principle. Unlike traditional cinema, where the process begins with a structured plot, here the genesis is an image, a vision, much like in contemporary performance art. Within this single image already lie the essential elements: the space that frames the action, the performers who inhabit it, the costumes that extend and transform their bodies, and the theatrical and symbolic gestures they are called upon to perform. 

From that starting point, the film unfolds not through prewritten narrative arcs, but through a process of improvised co-creation. The characters themselves, together with the space reshaped by their performative action, dictate the path forward. Each scene emerges step by step, growing in dialogue with the AI, in a continuous exchange between human intention and algorithmic suggestion. 

Somnium Corvi is therefore not only a film, but also a research practice: an exploration of how AI can generate new dramaturgies where architecture becomes protagonist, costumes transform into extensions of the psyche, and bodies carve out meaning through gestures suspended between the real and the surreal. It is a cinema of vision and performance, where narrative becomes an evolving score and the AI becomes a collaborator in the act of invention.