Sundance Institute's Story Forum: Exploring Art and Innovation is a space to learn, collaborate, and join the conversation; inviting thoughtful dialogue about the artist-first tools and technologies supporting visual storytelling today.


Join the team behind Dear Upstairs Neighbors for a screening and deep dive into artist-centric, AI-assisted animation workflows. This short film blends traditional animation with abstract expressionism using innovative video-to-video techniques. Learn how animation veterans and researchers at Google DeepMind developed custom AI models to transform hand-crafted art and music into "living paintings" while maintaining total creative control.


Learn more about Dear Upstairs Neighbors:


Featuring: Connie He (Director, Dear Upstairs Neighbors), Yung Spielburg (Composer, Dear Upstairs Neighbors), Cassidy Curtis (Supervising Animator, Dear Upstairs Neighbors), Sarah Rumbley (VFX Supervisor, Dear Upstairs Neighbors)

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Connie He
Connie He is an animation director and creative technologist at Google DeepMind. Her professional background includes work on animated feature films like Inside Out 2 and Dream Productions at Pixar from 2021-2024, while her first short film, "Watermelon: A Cautionary Tale,” is a viral success with over 200 million views on YouTube. more...
Yung Spielburg
Yung Spielburg is a Grammy Award–winning producer and songwriter best known for his long-standing collaboration with Japanese multi-hyphenate, MIYAVI. Collaborations include Simple Plan, Mikky Ekko, Train, Goo Goo Dolls, Samuel L. Jackson, DUCKWRTH, and Yuna, as well as HYDE, Daichi Miura, and EXILE SHOKICHI. more...
Cassidy Curtis
Cassidy Curtis is an animator and researcher at Google DeepMind, and served as Supervising Animator for DEAR UPSTAIRS NEIGHBORS. Previously, he worked for almost two decades at PDI/DreamWorks, where he supervised animation on characters like Toothless in HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON and Alex the Lion in MADAGASCAR 2. In his capacity as a researcher, he developed stylized rendering techniques for immersive animated films like PEARL (the first VR short to be nominated for an Oscar) and AGE OF SAIL (which won the VES award for real-time visual effects) at Google Spotlight Stories. more...
Sarah Rumbley
Sarah Rumbley is a software engineer at Google DeepMind, and served as VFX Supervisor for DEAR UPSTAIRS NEIGHBORS. Drawing on her background in photography, she is passionate about bringing a creator’s perspective to her work on image and video generation. Her first love was music, and she remains an active performer as a classical pianist in the Fireside Ensemble (a Boston-based chamber music group) and bass guitarist in her office rock band (“Codeplay”), while also pursuing studies in composition and film scoring. more...
Márcia Mayer
Márcia Mayer is a Film Independent Spirit Award-nominated producer, currently leading Google DeepMind’s Media and Entertainment production efforts. Previously, Márcia worked at Pixar, and founded and ran Tenacious Productions, where she was dedicated to producing exciting, emotionally engaging feature films that expand audiences’ empathy and understanding. more...
Tags:AIShortsEmerging Media

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