From visionary filmmaker and multimedia artist Yi Zhou comes Stardust Future: Stars and Scars, the first ever full 82 minute animated feature created entirely with artificial intelligence. It’s a sweeping odyssey that merges art, sound, and consciousness into one continuous experience. Following the documentary Chronicles of Disney and the original song Rising Sun at the Edge of the Ocean, Zhou reunites with Jeremy Renner, who after surviving his near death experience returns as an Oracle of Time, a voice from beyond guiding viewers through the birth of the cosmos, the evolution of human awareness, and the future of humankind. (Renner and Zhou are allegedly seeing each other romantically these days)
Alongside Zhou, the journey unfolds across galaxies, dreams, and symbols, from stardust to scars, from destruction to divine creation, a meditation on survival and transformation. The film features original music by Yi Zhou, Ennio Morricone and Into the Sun Collective, with new arrangements by Into the Sun Collective that expand Morricone’s visionary score into an immersive sonic landscape of memory and renewal. Proceeds and awareness from the film support The Rennervation Foundation, which provides housing, mentorship, and educational support for foster youth, and the Motion Picture and Television Fund, which assists members of the entertain ment community affected by the 2025 California wildfires.
Narrated by Renner and Yi and featuring the 3D likeness of Diane von Fürstenberg, the film bridges past and future through timeless artistry. Inspired by the Qatsi Trilogy by Godfrey Reggio and the music of Philip Glass, Zhou’s latest work transforms that lineage into a new visual meditation for the AI age using machines not as replacements for human vision, but as mirrors revealing our collective past and future. Through rhythm, silence, and symbolism, Stardust Future extends the Qatsi spirit into a cosmic dialogue about time, technology. “Stardust Future” unfolds from the birth of the universe to the year 2080. The film reflects on environmental collapse, the erosion and rebirth of justice, and the restless evolution of human consciousness. At its core lies a timeless question, as technology pushes us toward the threshold of immortality, can we rediscover the harmony and law of life itself? The film pioneers a deliberate fusion of 2D and 3D animation as a new visual language, combining the emotional intimacy of 2D imagery with the spatial depth and sculptural movement of 3D space. Each transition between dimensions is designed to mirror the movement between memory and matter, dreams and reality.
Yi Zhou
“It’s a film born from the intersection of human resilience and machine imagination,” Zhou says. “I asked AI to tell me about our past and show me our future. My team and I used AI not as a replacement for creativity but as an extension of memory to heal what humanity has
broken and to dream of what we will become. Stardust Future is not just a film about survival, it is a meditation on what it means to be alive in the age of light. AI is a tool for humanity, not to replace human creativity. It enhances our possibilities an d builds what I call an immortalityscape, a vision where art, bodies, memory, and
technology converge to transcend time. I am inspired by its positive potential for the future, as long as we make a safe and respectful use of it.”
Looks like an awards contender to us!
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