Venice Daysโข Premiere: ‘mumbi’ Director Damien Hauser Details AI-Assisted โฃEditing, Vision for African Sci-Fi
VENICE, ITALY – Damienโข Hauser, director of Mumbi, โฃdiscussed the extensiveโ post-productionโ process adn his creative approach to the film during an interview following its premiereโค at Venice Days. โฃHauser revealed โediting and effects โwork spanned from โFebruary of the previous โฃyear until โjust weeks ago, โdriven by a โขunique, documentary-styleโข shooting method โฃyielding over 44 hours โคof footage.
“I started editing it in February lastโ year,and I finished editing and the whole postโ just weeks ago,”โฃ Hauser stated.โ Heโ described โคa particularly intense two-month โคperiod โคfocused on visual effects, completing โapproximately 10 VFX shots daily. The โขsheer volume of โfootage,comprisedโข of diverse scenesโค andโ conversations without repetition,allowed for important narrative versatility. “I feel I reallyโข wrote the film in editing,” โคHauserโ explained,โฃ emphasizing โthe constant reshaping ofโ the story to maintain audienceโค engagement.
Addressing the โคfilm’s โขgenre, Hauser clarified that โคAfrofuturism wasn’t a primary influence. “I didn’t think of it like that when I shotโ it. I don’t even knowโ what kind of future the film is.I guess it is just โan African sci-fi film.” He positioned Mumbi as an โexperiment,โฃ contrasting it with large-budget science fiction productions frequently enough constrained by commercial considerations.โข Hauser believes utilizing AI as a tool provided the โคfreedom to create a โhighly specific and nicheโ film.
He โanticipates โคincreased accessibility to AI willโ empower โฃfilmmakers to explore diverseโฃ sci-fi narratives. “In the future, as โขaccess to AI becomes easier, you โคcan explore a sci-fi world so much โmore in different ways, which don’t have to attract everybody.” Hauser also expressed excitement about theโฃ future of African cinema, noting that films like Black Panther, while setโ in Africa, wereโ produced outside the continent. “Africa โขitself, or filmmakers inโค Africa, neverโ had the budget to make such a film, but I’m really looking forward to the films coming โขout of the continent inโค the future. Once people โขare able to tell thierโ own stories,there will โขbe so many crazy stories,new stories,new perspectives.”