The Almaška Church

Overview

An AI-generated historical documentary exploring the extraordinary story of the Almaška Church in Novi Sad, where in 1797 a new church was built around the existing one, which remained in use until it was dismantled from inside and carried out through the front door.

I developed the piece end-to-end: historical research, narrative structure, script, visual direction, shot design, archival-style reconstruction, voice, sound, video generation, editing, and final delivery.

The production combined Veo 3, Wan 2.2–2.4, ChatGPT, Jellypod, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro and After Effects, using different models according to their strengths. Veo handled atmospheric cinematic shots and controlled camera movement, while different versions of Wan were tested across historical reconstructions, environmental details, and supporting footage. Jellypod was used for narration and audio production.

A major challenge was creating a believable visual history of a place for which almost no moving-image record exists. Rather than treating generated footage as illustration, I approached each sequence as a reconstruction: researching materials, clothing, landscape, religious objects, architecture, weather, and period atmosphere, then directing the models toward a consistent visual world.

The film deliberately moves between documentary language and something closer to recovered memory: fog, rain, damaged film texture, static compositions, slow camera movement, fragments of icons, wax candles, marshland, bells, and architecture seen through details rather than spectacle.

Every generated shot was selected, rejected, revised, or regenerated based on composition, historical plausibility, continuity, camera behavior, lighting, atmosphere, and its role in the edit. The models produced possibilities; I decided what belonged in the film.

The project represents the kind of AI filmmaking I am most interested in: using rapidly changing generative tools not simply to make images that were previously expensive to produce, but to make stories that would otherwise have no images at all.